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ALFRED  KELLEY 


HIS    LIFE    ^ND    ^VS^ORK 


BY 

THE  HON.  JAMES  L.  BATES 

Of  the  Ohio  Bar 


FRI  ^.A^TELY     I»RIN'TEII> 


COLUMBUS,    OHIO 
Press  op  Egbert  Clarke  &  Co.,  Cincinnati 

1888 


250  copies  printed  for  private  circulation. 


Press  op  Robert  Clarke  &  Co. 

CINCINNATI. 


NOTE. 

This  memoii*  was  prepared  by  Judge  Bates,  of  Colum- 
bus, a  son-in-law  of  Mr.  Kellej,  at  the  request  of  the 
other  members  of  Mr.  Kellej's  family,  at  whose  instance 
it  is  now  printed  for  private  circulation  among  those 
who  knew  Mr.  Kelley,  and  for  the  purpose  of  putting  on 
record  a  statement  of  his  services  to  the  State,  which  he 
rendered  in  so  many  ways.  It  is  due  to  the  author  of 
this  memoir  to  say  that  he  has  not  had  the  opportu- 
nity of  reading  the  proofs,  and  for  errors  of  editor- 
ship or  the  press  he  is  therefore  not  responsible. 

Cambridge,  Mass.,  October,  1888. 

iii 


M188970 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

EARLY    YEARS. 

Birth  and  parentage — Removal  to  Lowville,  N.  Y. — Educa- 
tion— Bound  for  Ohio — Dr.  Kirtland's  account  of  the 
journey — Cleveland  in  1810 — Admitted  to  the  Bar — Ap- 
pointed Prosecuting  Attorney 1 

CHAPTER  II. 

LEGISLATIVE  SERVICE. 

Elected  to  the  Legislature — Service  on  committees — Re- 
ports on  proposed  amendments  to  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States — Report  on  canals — Marriage — Re- 
elected to  the  Legislature — Efforts  to  abolish  imprison- 
ment for  debt — Resolutions  against  slavery — Equaliza- 
tion of  taxation — Investigation  of  the  State  Treasury — 
Discovery  of  frauds 6 

CHAPTER  III. 

LEGISLATIVE  SERVICE    CONTINUED. 

Canals — A  message  from  the  Governor — Condition  of  the 
blacks — Elected  to  the  Senate — A  question  about  lot- 
teries— Mr.  Kelley's  report  thereupon 18 

CHAPTER  IV. 

PUBLIC  SCHOOLS  AND  THE  PUBLIC  LANDS. 

Public  lands  set  apart  for  schools — Maryland's  objec- 
tions— Legislative  report  in  full — Equal  privileges 
claimed  for  all  the  States — Maryland  demands  her 
share — Resolutions  transmitted  to  Governor  and  Legis- 
lature of  Ohio — Views  of  New  Hampshire 24 

V 


Table  of  Contents. 
CHAPTER  V. 

THE  SCHOOL  LANDS  QUESTION  CONTINUED. 

The  Maryland  and  New  Hampshire  communications  before 
the  Ohio  Legislature — The  governor's  message — Re- 
ferred .to  a  committee — Mr.  Kelley  chairman — A  com- 
munication from  Vermont — Mr.  Kelley's  report — An 
exhaustive  argument — Rights  and  privileges  of  the  sev- 
eral States — Maryland's  position  controverted 37 

CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  OHIO  CANALS. 

Mr.  Kelley  appointed  a  canal  commissioner — His  report  on 
the  subject — The  considerations  in  favor — The  Ohio 
market  in  1822 — Mr.  Kelley  appointed  acting  commis- 
sioner— Proceeds  to  New  York  for  study — Examination 
of  routes — Preliminary  surveys — Feeding  public  senti- 
ment— The  example  of  the  Erie  Canal 59 

CHAPTER   VII. 

CANAL  OOMMISSIONERSHIP. 

Locating  canal  routes — The  commissioners'  report — Tw^o 
routes  proposed — The  question  of  expense — A  public 
debt — The  Muskingum  and  Scioto  route  authorized  by 
the  Legislature — Mr.  Kelley's  forecast,  sagacity,  and 
prudence — Appointment  as  canal  commissioner — Three 
dollars  per  day — The  work  commenced — Health  im- 
paired— Report  for  1825 — Cost  of  the  work. — Effect  of 
the  canals — Mr.  Kelley's  resignation  as  acting  commis- 
sioner— Proposed  inquiry  into  the  accounts — The  form 
of  the  proposal  resented — Mr.  Kelley's  methods  of  man- 
agement      69 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

POLITICAL    SERVICES. 

Removal  to  Columbus — Election  to  the  Legislature  in  1836 — 
Services — Election  in  1837 — The  State  Debt — Chairman 
of  the  Finance  Committee — Imprisonment  for  debt 
abolished — Political  corruption  of  the  times — Call  for  a 
Whig  General  Convention — Picturesque  scenes — Enter- 
taining delegates 94 

vi 


Tahle  of  Contents. 
CHAPTER  IX. 

MR.  KELLEY  AS  A    FINANCIER. 

Financial  distrust-  in  1840 — Mr.  Kelley  appointed  Canal 
Fund  Commissioner — The  State  embarrassed — Borrow- 
ing money.in  England — Mr.  Kelley's  course — The  honor 
of  the  State  at  stake — Danger  of  repudiation — A  crisis — 
Mr.  Kelley's  courage  and  skill 101 

CHAPTER  X. 

REPUDIATION  REPUDIATED. 

Judge  Swan's  testimony  to  Mr.  Kelley's  services  at  this 
crisis — A  stormy  outlook — Mr.  Kelley's  personal  liabili- 
ties— His  letter  to  the  Ohio  State  Journal — Repudiation 
repudiated — Mr.  Kelley's  triumph — His  financial  mission 
to  Europe 112 

CHAPTER  XI. 

A  NEW  BANKING  SYSTEM. 

Retirement  from  office — Elected  to  the  Senate — The  cur- 
rency and  its  reform — The  United  States  Bank — The 
panic  of  1837— A  State  bank  for  Ohio— Mr.  Kelley's 
views — Foundation  of  the  present  banking  system 129 

-      CHAPTER  XII. 

REVENUE  REFORM. 

Revision  )jof    the  revenue  system — Mr.    Kelley's    report — 

Equalization  of  taxation — Sound  economics 138 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

EQUALIZATION  OF  THE  TAXES. 

Continued  financial   troubles — Mr.    Kelley's    proposal    for 
equalization  of  the  taxes — A  bold  step — Mr.  Edgerton's      ; 
speech — Mr.  Kelley's  reply — His  resolution  adopted — 
The  contest  continued... 148 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

PASSAGE  OF  THE  TAX  LAW. 

Mr.  Kelley's  speech — Passage  of  the  bill  in  the  Senate — Its 

vii 


Table  of  Contents. 

passage  in  the  House — Features  of  the  law — The  suc- 
ceeding political  controversy  over  it — Its  success  and 
effect 163 

CHAPTER  XV. 

RAILROAD  BUILDING. 

The  beginning  of  railroads — The  Columbus  and  Xenia  Rail- 
road— Selling  bonds  in  New  York — The  Cleveland, 
Columbus,  and  Cincinnati  Railroad — The  Cleveland, 
Painesville,  and  Ashtabula — Difficulties  about  gauge — A 
new  battle  of  Erie — A  strategic  movement — Buying  up 
a  right  of  way — Mob-law  at  Erie — Mr.  Kelley's  ''  Five 
Mile  Farm."... 174 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

CLOSING  TEARS. 

The  fugitive  slave  law — Re-election  to  the  Senate — Sessions 
of  1855-6  and  1856-T — The  improper  use  of  the  public 
funds — Investigation  of  treasury ;  alarming  disclosures — 
Bills  to  protect  public  funds — Bill  to  authorize  payment 
of  taxes  semi-annually — Suggestion  to  Mr.  Yaple  as  to 
public  schools — Guarding  the  treasury — The  new  State 
House — Mr.  Kelley's  address  of  welcome — Close  of  his 
legislative  career — The  end 186 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

PERSONAL  TRAITS. 

Mr.  Kelley's  probity — Originating  talent — Good  judgment — 
Executive  ability — Generous  instincts — Literary  tastes — 
Love  of  poetry — Scientific  knowledge — Familiarity  with 
geography — Hospitality — Mr.  Yaple's  reminiscences — 
Business  habits — Domestic  traits — Recollections  of 
Mathias  Martin  and  Judge  Swan — "Alfred  Kelley's  place 
in  history  " — Henry  Clay's  estimate — The  last  visit  of 
his  life— "Just  like  him" 201 

viii 


ALFRED    KELLEY: 

HIS  LIFE   AND   WORK. 


CHAPTER    I. 

EARLY  YEARS. 

1789-1810. 

Birth  and  parentage. — Removal  to  Lowville,  N.  Y.- — Educa- 
tion.— Bound  for  Ohio. — Dr.  Kirtland's  account  of  the  journey. — 
Cleveland  in  1810. — Admitted  to  the  Bar. — Appointed  Prose- 
cuting Attorne3\ 


The  personal  eiForts  and  official  life  of  the  subject  of 
this  biography  are  so  intimately  blended  with  the  devel- 
opment of  the  resources  of  Ohio,  with  its  commercial 
and  financial  prosperity,  and  with  the  establishment  and 
maintenance  of  its  credit,  that  the  following  narration 
will  necessarily  include  much  of  these  departments  of 
the  history  of  the  State.  Mr.  Kelley's  mental  charac- 
teristics, and  particularly  his  originating  talent,  were 
such,  that  even  when  he  was  associated  with  others  his 
seemed  to  be  the  controlling  mind,  and  he  alone  was  held 
responsible  for  results. 

Alfred  Kelley  was  born  in  Middlefield,  near  Middle- 
town,  Connecticut,  November  7th,  1789.  He  was  the 
second  son  of  Daniel  and  Jemima  Kelley,  and  inherited 

1 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

characteristics  from  both  parents.  In  him  were  com- 
bined intellectual  force,  tenacity  of  purpose,  and  a  strong 
will,  for  which  his  mother's  family  w^as  distinguished ; 
with  coolness,  a  disposition  to  thorough  investigation, 
and  an  evenly  balanced  judgment,  which  were  peculiari- 
ties of  his  father.  His  early  associates  were  among  the 
sturdy  and  well  ordered  inhabitants  of  New  England, 
and  he  lived  near  enough  to  the  Revolution  to  be  affected 
by  its  general  influence,  and  particularly  by  the  attach- 
ment to  home  and  country  which  naturally  resulted  from 
its  privations  and  success. 

The  boy  remained  in  Middlefield  until  the  winter  of 
1798-9,  when  his  parents  removed  with  their  family  to 
Lowville,  in  the  northern  part  of  New  York.  The  jour- 
ney was  long,  and  the  country  to  which  they  were  immi- 
grating was  new,  even  when  compared  with  their  New 
England  home.  Three  or  four  white  families  comprised 
all  the  inhabitants  except  Indians.  Here  the  father 
made  favorable  investments  and  accumulated  a  moderate 
property  by  industry  and  economy. 

The  son  had  all  the  educational  advantages  which 
the  region  in  which  he  lived  afforded.  He  attended  the 
common  schools  and  was  several  years  a  student  at  the 
Fairfield  Academy.  His  scientific  and  literary  attain- 
ments are  conclusive  evidence  that  he  was  a  thorough 
student,  and  availed  himself  of  all  the  advantages  which 
were  within  his  reach.  Early  in  his  life  he  exhibited  a 
preference  for  the  legal  profession,  and  his  studies  were 
directed    accordingly.     At   some  time  during  the  year 

2 


Alfred  Kelley ;  Ms  Life  and  Work. 

1807  he  entered  the  law  office  of  Judge  Jonas  Piatt,  one 
of  the  eminent  jurists  of  the  State  of  New  York,  under 
whose  instruction  he  studied  law  until  May  in  1810, 
when  he  started  for  Ohio,  in  company  with  his  uncle^ 
Judge  Joshua  Stow,  and  Jared  P.  Kirtland.  Judge  Stow 
was  then  a  prominent  and  influential  citizen  of  the  State 
of  Connecticut,  and  Mr.  Kirtland  was  a  medical  student 
from  the  same  State,  and  younger  than  Mr.  Kelley. 
The  two  young  men,  like  many  others  from  New  England 
and  New  York,  were  at  that  time  seeking  homes  in 
Northern  Ohio,  which  was  then  "the  far  West."  Some 
traveled  on  foot,  and  others,  as  did  this  company,  on 
horseback. 

During  the  previous  winter  General  Peter  B.  Porter, 
then  a  member  of  Congress,  representing  a  district  in 
Western  New  York,  made  a  speech,  in  which  he  advo- 
cated the  construction,  by  the  general  government,  of  a 
canal  from  the  Hudson  River  to  Lake  Erie.  The  public 
was  much  interested  in  the  subject,  and  it  was  discussed 
often  on  the  road,  and  at  their  stopping  places.  In  a 
letter  of  Dr.  Kirtland,  in  which  he  gives  an  account  of 
the  journey,  he  says  : 

"The  suggestion  in  the  public  estimation  was  Utopian,  as 
it  was  in  the  opinion  of  the  older  members  of  our  traveling 
company.  Our  journey  was  along  the  route  subsequently  se- 
lected for  that  great  work.  Mr.  Kelley  was  a  firm  believer 
in  both  its  importance  and  practicability.  It  was  the  subject 
of  almost  constant  debate,  not  only  in  our  traveling  coterie, 
but  at  most  of  our  stopping  places,  and  among  all  classes  of 
people.     On  Mr.  Kelley  devolved  the  task  of  defending  the 

3 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

project,  which  he  did  on  all  occasions,  with  a  skill  and  enthu- 
siasm that  excited  the  admiration  of  every  one,  but  which  en- 
titled him  to  the  rank  of  a  monomaniac  in  the  estimation  of 
the  older  and  conservative  portions  of  his  hearers.  Conserva- 
tism was  then  the  order  of  the  day  among  statesmen,  politi- 
cians, and  financiers. 

"  His  example  and  influence  over  myself  during  that  jour- 
ney I  have  felt  through  life.  They  were  the  best  and  most 
eflTective  schooling  I  ever  received.  Bashful,  timid,  and  un- 
stable at  that  time,  I  could  not  fail  to  admire  in  him  such 
prominent  and  opposite  traits  ot  character ;  and  though  I  was 
then  prone  to  consider  him  as  severe  and  dogmatical,  yet  I 
was  a  full  believer  in  all  he  said,  as  well  as  secretly  an  admirer 
of  his  mode  of  doing.  Of  course!  adopted,  to  some  extent, 
him  as  a  model  and  oracle." 

In  the  latter  part  of  June,  and  in  his  twenty-first  year, 
Mr.  Kelley  reached  Cleveland  and  became  one  of  its  in- 
habitants. At  that  time  Cleveland  contained  three 
framed  and  five  or  six  log  houses.  Neither  of  the  framed 
dwellings  was  finished.  One  person  attended  to  all  the 
business  of  the  Post  Office,  the  Recorder's  Office,  the 
Clerk  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas. 

'At  the  first  session  of  the  Supreme  Court  held  in 
Cuyahoga  County,  and  in  the  year  1810,  Mr.  Kelley  was 
admitted  to  the  Bar,  and  at  the  first  term  of  the  Court  of 
Common  Pleas  thereafter  he  was  appointed  Prosecuting 
Attorney,  which  office  he  continued  to  hold  by  successive 
appointments  until  1822,  when  he  resigned  on  becoming 
Canal   Commissioner.      Business    came   to   him   imme- 

4 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

diately,  and  he  soon  practiced  in  many  of  the  counties 
on  the  Reserve. 

The  Hon.  Elisha  Whittlesey,  who  was  often  with  him 
on  the  Circuit,  in  a  letter  on  the  subject,  says : 

"He  was  distinguished  in  whatever  business  he  undertook 
to  perform."  .  .  .  "As  a  draughtsman  he  was  accurate, 
and  I  question  whether  the  records  contain  evidence  of  many, 
if  they  do  any,  defective  bills  of  indictment,  declarations, 
bills  in  chancery,  or  any  other  legal  or  equitable  proceedings." 

He  was  also  an  advocate  of  extraordinary  force  and 

cogency,  and  when  he  relinquished  his  practice  to  take 

charge  of  the  construction  of  the  Ohio  Canal,  it  was  as 

large  and  lucrative  as  that  of  any  attorney  in  that  part 

of  the  State. 

5 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 


CHAPTER   II. 

LEGISLATIVE    SERVICE. 

1814-1820. 

Elected  to  the  Legislature. — Service  on  committees. — Reports 
on  proposed  amendments  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States. — Report  on  canals. — Marriage. — Re-elected  to  the  Legis- 
lature.— EflPorts  to  abolish  imprisonment  for  debt, — Resolutions 
against  slavery. — Equalization  of  taxation. — Investigation  of  the 
State  Treasury. — Discovery  of  frauds. 


In  1814,  and  as  soon  as  he  had  arrived  at  the  required 
age  of  twenty-five,  Mr.  Kelley  was  elected  a  member  of 
the  Legislature,  and  with  William  A.  Harper  represented 
Ashtabula,  Cuyahoga,  and  Geauga  Counties,  which  then 
comprised  most  of  the  Reserve.  And  although  he  was 
the  youngest  man  in  either  branch  of  the  General 
Assembly,  the  proceedings  show  that  he  was  one  of  the 
most  prominent  and  influential  members. 

He  was  re-elected  in  1815.  It  was  a  common  practice 
at  that  time,  as  it  has  been  since,  for  the  Legislature  of 
one  State  to  suggest  an  amendment  of  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States,  or  propose  some  other  general 
object,  and  request  the  approval  of  it  by  the  Legislatures 
of  the  other  States,  and  thus  exert  a  combined  influence 
upon  Congress. 

North  Carolina,  in  pursuance  of  this  custom,  proposed 
an  amendment  requiring  the  *'  Legislatures  of  the  several 

6 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

States  to  district  the  same,  for  the  purpose  of  appointing 
electors  of  President  and  Vice-President  of  the  United 
States,"  instead  of  electing  them  all  by  a  general  ticket. 
The  communication  of  the  State  of  North  Carolina  was 
presented  to  the  Legislature  by  the  Governor  with  an 
accompanying  message,  and  referred  to  a  committee  of 
five,  of  which  Mr.  Kelley  was  chairman,  who,  in  be- 
half of  the  committee,  reported  as  follows : 

"  The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  resolution  of  the 
Legislature  of  North  Carolina  proposiug  an  amendment  to  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  requiring  the  Legislatures 
of  the  several  States  to  district  the  same  for  the  purpose  of 
choosing  representatives  in  Congress,  and  also  for  the  purpose 
of  appointing  electors  of  President  and  Vice-President  of  the 
United  States,  have  had  the  same  under  consideration,  and 
are  of  opinion : 

"That  as  representatives  in  Congress  are  elected  for  the 
purpose  of  acting  upon  all  the  various  subjects  which  may 
come  before  the  National  Legislature,  as  well  of  a  local  as  of 
a  general  nature,  it  is  important  that  they  should  be  in- 
timately acquainted  with  the  local  situation,  interests  and 
sentiments  of  the  particular  section  of  the  Union  which  they 
represent,  and  that  the  people  should  be  able  to  know  the 
qualifications  of  those  whom  they  elect  to  represent  them,  and 
that  the  several  States  should  be  districted  in  the  most  advan- 
tageous manner  to  effect  these  important  objects. 

''  Yet  believing  that  this  can  be  done,  and  that  most  of  the 
States  are  districted  for  the  purpose  of  electing  representatives 
in  Congress  under  the  provision  of  the  Constitution  as  it  now 
exists,  and  that  serious  inconveniences  might  in  many  in- 
stances result  from  requiring  absolutely  the  several  States  to 
be  divided  into  a  number  of  districts  equal  to  the  number  of 
representatives  to  which  each  State  may  be  entitled,  and  no 
more.  Your  committee  are  therefore  of  opinion,  that  it  is 
unnecessary  and  inexpedient  to  alter  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  in  this  respect. 

"  Your  committee  are  also  of  opinion  that  it  would  be  im- 
politic to  district  the  several  States  for  the  purpose  of  ap- 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

pointing  electors  of  President  and  Vice-President,  believing 
that  it  would  be  productive  of  no  material  advantages. 

"  Electors  being  chosen  to  perform  one  definite  act  only, 
the  same  necessity  for  their  being  acquainted  with  the  local 
situations  and  interests  of  the  different  sections  of  the  Union 
does  not  exist  as  in  the  case  of  representatives  in  Congress." 

''  Districting  the  States  for  the  purpose  of  appointing 
electors,  might  also,  by  dividing  a  State,  destroy  that  influ- 
ence to  which  it  is  entitled  and  would  otherwise  possess,  and 
would  in  many  instances  prevent  a  fair  expression  of  the 
public  will,  and  produce  a  choice  of  electors  a  majority  of 
w^hom  might  act  in  opposition  to  the  wishes  of  a  majority  of 
the  citizens  of  the  State  for  which  they  were  appointed." 

The  Legislature  declined  to  approve  the  proposed 
amendment. 

The  State  of  Georgia  also  recommended  an  amend- 
ment of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  by  which 
the  term  of  senators  in  Congress  would  be  reduced  from 
six  to  four  years.  This  w^as  also  received  from  the  Gov- 
ernor, referred  to  the  same  committee,  and  reported 
upon  by  Mr.  Kelley  as  follows  : 

'*  The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  resolution  of 
the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  Georgia  recommending  an  al- 
teration of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  reducing 
the  term  of  service  of  senators  in  Congress  from  six  to  four 
years  beg  leave  to  report: 

"  That  although  your  committee  are  fully  impressed  with 
the  belief,  that,  in  order  to  secure  our  natural  liberties  and 
privileges  as  w^ell  as  to  give  tone  and  energy  to  the  Govern- 
ment, it  is  of  the  utmost  importance  that  the  people  should 
have  frequent  opportunities  of  expressing  their  sentiments 
and  feelings  upon  National  affairs,  and  of  displacing  such 
of  their  representatives  as  may  be  incompetent  or  dangerous, 
and  of  electing  others  to  fill  their  places  more  able  or  less 
dangerous,  yet  to  prevent  the  pernicious  consequences  of 
sudden  and  violent  changes,  to  temper  and  regulate  the  force 
of  popular  impulse,  to  secure  a  proper  degree  of  uniformity 
and  stability  to  our  National  councils,  they  believe  it  to  be 

8 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

of  equal  importance  that  one  branch  of  the  general  govern- 
ment should  be  composed  of  men  who  are  not  so  imme- 
diately dependent  upon  popular  opinion,  who  are  subject  to 
be  less  frequently  changed,  and  a  majority  of  whom  may  at 
all  times  possess  the  advantages  of  experience  in  legislative 
proceedings  and  a  knowledge  of  the  measures  and  policy  of 
government.  Your  committee  are  also  of  opinion  that  it  is 
inexpedient  to  change  the  principles  of  the  Constitution,  ex- 
cept to  remedy  material  and  palpable  defects." 

The  Georgia  proposition  was  not  approved. 

In  1816  Mr.  Kelley  was  again  elected  to  the  Legis- 
lature, and  with  "William  Kerr  represented  the  counties 
of  Ashtabula,  Geauga,  Cuyahoga,  and  Huron.  During 
this  session  a  letter  was  received  from  DeWitt  Clinton, 
one  of  the  commissioners  appointed  by  the  State  of 
New  York  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  the  practi- 
cability of  connecting  by  a  canal  the  Hudson  with  Lake 
Erie,  calling  the  attention  of  Ohio  to  its  importance  as 
an  outlet  for  its  products,  and  suggesting  that  it  should 
participate  in  the  expense  of  the  work.  New  York  did 
not  feel  able  to  sustain  the  burden  of  such  an  under- 
taking ;  and,  as  Ohio  would  be  materially  benefited  by 
it,  this  proposition  was  made.  The  subject  was  re- 
ferred to  a  committee  of  which  Mr.  Kelley  was  chair- 
man; and  although  the  Legislature  did  not  accede  to 
the  request  the  following  extract  from  the  report  shows 
a  full  appreciation  of  the  importance  of  the  enterprise  : 

"From  an  examination  of  the  subject  submitted  to  their 
consideration,  your  committee  are  fully  impressed  with  the 
belief  that  the  making  of  a  canal  from  the  Hudson  Eiver 
to  Lake  Erie,  is  an  object  of  the  first  importance  to  this  State, 
and  to  the  United  States  in  general,  both  in  a  commercial 

9 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

and  political  point  of  view.  Tiie  facility  which  it  will  afford 
to  the  exportation  of  the  surplus  produce  of  our  luxuriant 
soil,  and  the  consequent  encouragement  of  agricultural  and 
commercial  enterprise,  are  effects  too  obvious  to  pass  un- 
noticed, and  of  too  much  importance  to  be  neglected.  As 
affording  a  safe,  easy  and  expeditious  mode  of  a  mutual  in- 
terchange of  commodities  between  different  sections  of  our 
common  country,  highly  advantageous  to  all, — as  increasing 
the  commercial  connections,  friendly  intercourse,  and  ties  of 
interest,  and  by  these  means  strengthening  the  bonds  of  union 
between  remote  parts  of  the  Nation,  the  contemplated  canal  pre- 
sents advantages  vastly  superior  to  those  resulting  from  any 
work  of  the  kind  accomplished  by  the  industry  of  man  in  any 
age  or  country." 

Referring  to  Ohio,  with  the  Lake  on  the  north,  and 
the  Ohio  River  on  the  South,  its  climate,  soil,  and 
streams,  he  says : 

"  We  are  struck  with  its  natural  advantages,  which,  if  im- 
proved by  an  enlightened  and  liberal  policy,  will  render  the 
situation  of  Ohio  inferior  to  that  of  no  State  in  the  Union, 
or  country  in  the  world." 

In  the  summer  of  this  same  year,  and  on  the  25th 
day  of  August,  Mr.  Kelley  was  married  at  Martinsburgh, 
in  Northern  New  York,  to  Mary  Seymour  Welles,  the 
eldest  daughter  of  Major  Melancthon  W.  Welles,  of  that 
place.  An  account  of  her  life  ought  to  be  written,  for 
the  double  purpose  of  perpetuating  the  memory  of  her 
unusual  attractiveness  and  usefulness,  and  also  of  pre- 
serving some  account  of  the  habits,  manners,  and  do- 
mestic usages  of  that  early  period. 

Mr.  Kelley  was  again  elected  to  the  Legislature,  in 
1819,  and,  with  Ebenezer  Merry,  represented  the  same 
counties — Ashtabula,    Geauga,    Cuyahoga,    and    Huron. 

10 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

Down  to  this  period,  in  the  State  of  Ohio,  and  it  is  be- 
lieved in  every  other  State,  and  in  Great  Britain,  im- 
prisonment for  debt  was  both  authorized  and  practiced. 
Innocent  and  honest  men  were  imprisoned  for  no  other 
reason  than  that  they  were  unfortunate  debtors.  The 
process  issued  without  bond  or  other  security  on  the 
part  of  the  creditor.  Cruel  and  even  barbarous  as  it 
appears  now,  it  was,  at  that  time,  a  common  and  usual 
proceeding.  At  this  session,  and  on  the  24th  of  De- 
cember, 1819,  Mr.  Kelley  took  the  first  step  in  the  his- 
tory of  jurisprudence  to  relieve  the  innocent  from  this 
harsh  and  cruel  practice.  On  that  day  he  introduced 
a  bill  "  To  abolish  imprisonment  for  debt."  It  con- 
tained also  provisions,  similar  to  those  now  in  force, 
against  fraudulent  conveyances  and  other  fraudulent 
acts  of  debtors  which  were  intended   to  injure  creditors. 

The  proposition  seems  to  us  obviously  just,  and  we 
even  wonder  that  such  a  practice  ever  prevailed.  It 
was,  however,  so  old  and  so  interwoven  with  legal  usages, 
that  only  a  minority  could  be  induced  to  favor  Mr.  Kel- 
ley's  bill.  He  was  so  far  in  advance  of  public  sentiment 
on  this  subject,  that  it  required  many  years  of  education 
to  satisfy  even  a  majority  of  the  injustice  and  inhuman- 
ity of  allowing  the  imprisonment  of  an  honest  but  un- 
fortunate debtor  at  the  will  of  his  creditor. 

After  the  defeat  of  the  bill,  Mr.  Kelley  wrote  to  a 
friend : 

"The  House  has  to-day  disagreed,  by  a  small  majority,  to 
my  favorite  bill,  to  abolish  imprisonmeut  for  debt.     I  was  not 

11 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

disappointed,  although  at  first  a  large  majority  seemed  to 
favor  it.  The  time  will  come  when  the  absurdity,  as  well  as 
inhumanity,  of  adding  oppression  to  misfortune  will  be  ac- 
knowledged." 

At  that  early  day,  the  aggressive  and  dangerous  dispo- 
sition of  the  slave-holders  was  exhibited  in  a  determina- 
tion to  extend  slavery  into  our  free  territories.  The 
proceedings  and  discussions  in  Congress  rendered  it  ex- 
pedient for  the  Ohio  Legislature  to  declare  its  opinion 
on  the  subject.  Resolutions  were  therefore  introduced 
for  that  purpose,  and  the  Senate  and  House  disagreed  as 
to  the  form  in  which  that  opinion  should  be  expressed. 
To  settle  that  disagreement,  a  committee  of  conference 
was  appointed,  of  which  Mr.  Kelley  was  a  member,  and 
prepared  and  procured  the  adoption  by  the  committee  of 
the  following  preamble  and  resolution : 

"  Whereas,  the  existence  of  slavery  in  our  country  must  be 
considered  a  national  calamity,  as  well  as  a  great  moral  and 
political  evil ;  and  whereas,  the  admission  of  slavery  within 
the  new  states  and  territories  of  the  United  States  is  fraught 
with  the  most  pernicious  consequences,  and  calculated  to  en- 
danger the  peace  and  prosperity  of  our  country.     Therefore, 

Resolved  by  the  General  Assembly  of  tlie  State  of  Ohio,  That 
our  senators  and  representatives  in  Congress  be  requested  to 
use  their  utmost  exertions  to  prevent  the  admission  or  intro- 
duction of  slavery  into  any  of  the  territories  of  the  United 
States,  or  any  new  State  that  may  hereafter  be  admitted  into 
the  Union." 

As  a  member  of  the  committee,  he  reported  the  pre- 
amble and  resolution  to  the  House,  by  which  it  was 
adopted  unanimously. 

At  this  session   the  inequality  of  taxation  attracted 

12 


Alfred  Kelley ;  Ms  Life  and  Work. 

the  attention  of  Mr.  Kelley,  and,  on  his  motion,  a  stand- 
ing committee  on  finance  was  appointed,  of  which  he  was 
made  chairman.  Not  long  afterward,  as  such  chairman, 
he  submitted  an  elaborate  report,  in  which  he  pointed 
out  defects  in  the  mode  of  valuing  lands,  which  were 
then  nearly  the  exclusive  source  of  revenue,  as  well  as 
in  the  method  of  assessing  and  levying  taxes  ;  and  recom- 
mended a  mode  of  simplifying  both. 

At  that  time,  land  was  divided  into  three  grades,  and 
was  taxed  by  the  acre,  and  not  according  to  its  value. 
In  relation  to  this  principle  of  taxation,  as  well  as  the 
method  of  assessing  and  collecting  taxes,  the  committee 
reported : 

"  That  they  have  taken  into  consideration  that  part  of  his 
Excellency's  Message  to  thera  referred,  as  well  as  the  various 
laws,  now  in  force,  relating  to  the  revenue ;  and  from  a  dili- 
gent examination  of  the  subject,  your  committee  are  con- 
vinced, that  many  defects  exist  in  our  present  system  of 
finance.  Some  of  these  defects  afiect  the  principles  on  which 
the  taxes  are  levied  ;  but  the  more  numerous,  as  well  as 
more  serious  difficulties,  appear  to  be  in  the  method  of  assess- 
ing and  collecting  the  taxes  already  imposed. 

"  The  most  equitable,  as  well  as  the  most  simple  method  of 
raising  a  revenue  from  real  property,  is  to  levy  a  tax  on  lands, 
in  proportion  to  their  value.  And  were  it  not  for  the  many 
difficulties  which  suggest  themselves  to  this  method  of  assess- 
ment, in  the  present  situation  of  the  state,  your  committee 
would  feel  no  hesitation  in  recommending  its  adoption.  The 
expense  attending  an  actual  valuation  of  all  the  various 
tracts  of  land  within  the  state,  and  of  equalizing  such  valu- 
ation amongst  the  different  districts  or  sections  of  the  state, 
so  that  the  various  tracts  might  be  assessed  in  proportion  to 
their  relative,  as  well  as  real  value,  would  be  very  consider- 
able. In  all  new  countries  which  are  fast  progressing  in  im- 
provement, and  where  experience  as  well  as  adventitious  cir- 
cumstances are  daily  disclosing  the  important  advantages  pos- 

13 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

sessed  by  local  situations ;  the  real  as  well  as  relative  value  of 
property  is  so  rapidly  changing,  that  the  necessity  of  a  fre- 
quent revaluation,  and  general  equalization,  would  greatly  en- 
hance the  expenses  of  levying  a  tax.  When  all  the  lands 
within  the  state  shall  become  subject  to  taxation,  and  shall 
have  obtained  something  like  a  fixed  and  permanent  value, 
and  possibly  before  that  period,  this  system  may,  with  pro- 
priety, be  adopted. 

"  There  appear  to  be  many  serious  defects  in  the  present 
method  of  collecting  the  tax  levied  on  lands,  and  making 
entries,  alterations,  and  transfers,  on  the  tax  lists. 

"  The  present  system  is,  in  the  opinion  of  your  committee, 
too  complicated  and  intricate.  Laws  upon  which  all  classes 
of  community  are  required  constantly  to  act,  should  be  plain 
and  simple,  and  should  provide  an  easy  method  for  rectifying 
mistakes  when  they  occur.  Your  committee  are  aware  of  the 
difficulty  of  rendering  any  system  of  taxation,  so  complicated 
in  its  very  nature,  as  plain  and  simple  as  would  be  desirable; 
yet  they  believe  much  might  be  done  to  remedy  some  of  the 
most  material  defects  of  that  which  is  now  in  force. 

"  Some  further  provisions  to  secure  the  purchasers  of  lands 
sold  for  the  non-payment  of  taxes,  an  undisturbed  possession 
and  complete  title,  seem  to  be  necessary,  in  order  to  render  it 
safe  to  purchase  lands  so  sold.     .     .     . 

"  Your  committee  recommend  to  provide  by  law  for  strict 
regularity  in  all  the  proceedings  to  effect  sales  of  land  for  non- 
payment of  taxes,  and  that  the  deed  of  conveyance,  bottomed 
on  such  sales,  be  declared,  at  least,  prima /ttCi'e  evidence  of 
title. 

*'  Many  of  the  errors  which  have  crept  into  our  tax  lists, 
originate  in  the  inability  of  the  boards  of  commissioners,  in 
many  of  the  counties,  to  transact  business  which  requires  so 
much  care  and  exactness.  Experience  proves  that  the  quali- 
fications of  a  candidate  to  fill  that  office,  do  not  always  form 
a  criterion  of  his  success  in  the  election." 

At  this  session  also  the  term  of  the  Treasurer  of  State 
expired,  and  he  was  re-elected  by  a  joint  ballot  of  the 
Legislature.  Not  long  after  his  re-election,  suspicions 
arose  in  regard  to  the  safety  of  the  public  funds,  and  a 

14 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

special  committee  was  appointed  to  examine  the  books 
of  the  Auditor  and  Treasurer.  On  the  7th  of  February, 
the  committee  reported  a  deficiency  of  $5,494.20,  with- 
out recommending  any  action  in  relation  to  it.  On  the 
11th  of  February,  in  secret  session,  a  resolution  was  of- 
fered to  prepare  and  report  articles  of  impeachment 
against  the  Treasurer  of  State,  which  w^as  laid  upon  the 
table.  At  this  stage  of  the  proceedings,  it  appear- 
ing that  nothing  was  likely  to  be  done  to  secure  the 
funds  then  remaining  in  the  treasury,  Mr.  Kelley  offered 
a  resolution  which  was  amended  and  adopted  as  fol- 
lows : 

^^  Resolved,  by  the  House  of  Representatives,  tliat  a  com- 
mittee of  five  members  be  appointed  to  examine  the  funds  of 
the  Treasury,  and  request  the  Treasurer  to  lock  and  seal  the 
vault  of  the  Treasury,  and  that  said  committee  report,  from 
time  to  time,  to  this  House,  any  information  they  may  think 
important." 

Mr.  Kelley  was  one  of  the  committee,  but  not  its 
chairman,  and  on  the  16th  the  committee  made  a  report 
from  which  it  appears  that  they  waited  upon  the  Treas- 
urer the  day  they  were  appointed,  and  he  requested  that 
the  examination  be  delayed  until  the  next  day ;  and  an 
arrangement  was  made,  on  his  suggestion,  that  the  keys 
be  divided  between  them.  While  in  this  situation,  the 
committee  thought  it.  prudent  "to  keep  an  eye  on  the 
Treasury,"  and  therefore  a  part  of  them  kept  possession 
of  the  Governor's  room  "  for  the  night."  The  door  of 
the  Governor's  room  was  opposite  to,  and  across  a  small 

15 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work, 

hall  from,  the  door  of  the  Treasurer's  office.  This  extra- 
ordinary vigilance  was  considered  necessary  in  order  to 
prevent  any  interference  with  the  funds,  and  especially 
the  removal  of  any  money  or  securities  which  might 
have  been  deposited  temporarily  to  cover  all  or  any  part 
of  the  deficiency.  It  is  gjenerally  the  case  that  some 
outside  parties  are  connected  with  such  defalcations,  and 
are  willing  to  aid  in  concealing  them  and  protecting  the 
guilty  officers.  The  next  morning  the  Treasurer  re- 
quested further  time,  and  offered  to  resign  on  Monday, 
the  14th,  if  the  examination  should  be  delayed  to  that 
time.  The  delay  was  granted.  On  Monday  the  Treas- 
urer said  that  his  sureties  "  had  directed  him  not  to  re- 
sign his  office."  He  however  permitted  the  examina- 
tion to  proceed,  and  the  committee  found  and  reported  a 
deficit  of  $11,431.78.  Before  the  examination  was  com- 
pleted the  Treasurer  resigned.  The  committee  retained 
the  keys  until  the  17th,  when  his  successor  was  ap- 
pointed. 

Not  long  afterward  the  State  received  this  deficit, 
and  the  settlement  appears  in  the  proceedings  of  a  sub- 
sequent Legislature. 

It  is  quite  evident  to  any  one  acquainted  with  the 
character  of  Mr.  Kelley  that  the  resolution  as  originally 
drawn  did  not  simply  "  request  the  Treasurer  to  lock 
and  seal  the  vault,"  but  contained  terms  giving  the 
committee  such  authority  as  would  insure  that  result. 
This  is  corroborated  by  a  statement  of  Judge  Swan,  who 
was  living  in  Columbus  at  the  time,  and  was  familiar 

16 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

with  all  the  facts ;    which  statement  was  made  in  re- 
lation to  Mr.  Kelley's  election  to  the  Senate  in  1855 :     . 

"Nor  was  it  entirely  forgotten  that  on  a  former  occasion, 
far  back  in  our  history,  Mr.  Kelley  had  detected  and  exposed 
a  treasury  defalcation,  which  had  escaped  the  penetration  of 
every  other  member  of  the  Legislature.  That  his  boldness 
and  penetration  had  brought  to  light  the  unworthy  incum- 
bent's guilt,  and  had  driven  him  in  disgrace  from  his  office. 
That  by  Mr.  Kelley's  firmness  and  extraordinary  exertions, 
the  amount  abstracted  from  the  Treasury  had  been  secured, 
and  the  residue  of  the  public  money  to  a  vast  amount,  and 
including  fifty  thousand  dollars,  a  tax  levied  on  the  Bank  of 
the  United  States,  effectually  secured  from  waste  and  plun- 
der." 

2  17 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work, 


CHAPTER   III. 

LEGISLATIVE    SERVICE    CONTINUED. 

Canals. — A  message  from  the  Governor. — Condition  of  the 
blacks. — Elected  to  the  Senate. — A  question  about  lotteries. — 
Mr.  Kelley's  report  thereupon. 


The  discussions,  during  the  preceding  eight  or  nine 
years,  growing  out  of  the  New  York  Canals,  had,  by  this 
time,  suggested  similar  improvements  in  other  States. 
The  practicability  and  usefulness  of  such  public  works 
Mr.  Kelley  had  advocated  all  through  that  period.  Soon 
after  he  became  a  citizen  of  Ohio,  he  made  himself 
familiar  with  its  resources  and  its  topography.  No  one 
in  the  State  was  more  familiar  with  its  streams  and  sur- 
face ;  and  at  a  very  early  day  he  became  satisfied  that 
the  Lake  and  the  Ohio  River  might  be  connected  by  a 
navigable  canal.  Few  then  concurred  with  him  in  this 
opinion ;  but  he  was  so  accustomed  to  be  in  advance  of 
public  sentiment  that  he  was  not  at  all  deterred  by  being 
in  a  minority.  The  subject  was  freely  discussed  by  the 
members  of  the  Legislature  at  this  session,  and,  with  a 
view  of  formally  presenting  it  to  that  body  and  to  the 
public  at  large,  a  resolution  was  adopted  by  the  House, 
requesting  the  Governor  to  communicate  thereto  such 
information  as  was  in  his  possession  relating  to  a  Canal 
connecting  Lake  Erie  and  the  Ohio  River.     The  Gov- 

18 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Lije  and  Work. 

ernor  responded  to  this  resolution  by  a  message  in  which, 
he  furnished  "  representations,  ideas,  and  opinions  being 
derived  from  casual  observations  and  various  indi- 
viduals." A  careful  reading  of  the  message,  which  con- 
tains much  statistical  and  topographical  information,, 
will  suggest  to  any  one  familiar  with  Mr.  Kelley's 
knowledge  of  these  subjects  and  the  clearness  and  force 
of  his  statements,  that  the  argument,  with  the  statistics, 
were  furnished  by  him.  Many  copies  of  the  message 
were  printed  and  circulated  by  order  of  the  House ;  and 
this  incipient  step  did  much  to  form  the  public  opinion 
which  some  years  later  secured  that  great  public  im- 
provement. 

At  this  period  the  prejudice  against  the  African  race 
was  very  intense  even  in  many  of  the  free  States.  The 
blacks  were  brought  to  this  country  by  force,  were  com- 
pelled to  labor  in  the  South  w^ithout  compensation,  and 
were,  in  that  section,  even  debarred  from  education  and 
from  all  legal  means  of  protection  against  what  were 
conceded  to  be  wrongs  inflicted  by  the  whites.  In  Ohio, 
though  educated  and  free,  they  were  not  allowed  to  tes- 
tify against  a  white  man.  The  injustice  of  this  rule  was 
as  evident  to  Mr.  Kelley,  then,  as  it  became  many  years 
afterward  to  all  reasonable  men  ;  and  at  this  session, 
with  a  small  minority,  he  voted  in  favor  of  giving  to  the 
negro  the  right  of  testifying  as  fully  as  it  was  possessed 
by  the  whites. 

In  1821  Mr.  Kelley  was  elected  to  the  Senate,  and 
represented  the  counties  of  Cuyahoga,  Huron,  and  San- 

19 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

dusky.  The  Legislature  convened  on  the  3d  day  of 
December,  and  on  the  11th  the  Governor  transmitted  to 
the  Senate  a  memorial  of  the  Mayor,  Aldermen,  and 
Common  Council  of  the  District  of  Columbia — in  which 
it  is  stated  that  by  an  act  of  Congress  the  memorialists 
are  authorized  to  establish  a  lottery  within  the  District 
as  a  means  of  procuring  money  for  the  purpose  of 
"  effecting  important  improvements  in  the  City  of  Wash- 
ington, which  the  ordinary  revenue  thereof  will  not  ac- 
complish," provided  the  amount  "  so  authorized  to  be 
raised "  shall  not  exceed  ten  thousand  dollars  each 
year.  The  memorialists  further  state  that  when  these 
lotteries  are  put  in  operation,  prohibitory  laws  are  en- 
acted by  some  of  the  States,  and  the  purpose  of  them 
is  in  part  defeated.  They  therefore  ask,  in  behalf  of 
their  fellow-citizens,  the  active  interposition  of  the  State 
of  Ohio  in  their  favor.  Reference  is  made  to  the  un- 
improved condition  of  the  District,  which  twenty  years 
before  was  "  for  the  most  part  covered  with  woods,  im- 
passable marsh,  without  inhabitants  save  the  occupants 
of  one  or  two  farms."  And  they  state  their  wish  to  in- 
vest the  proceeds  in  "  the  building  of  a  City  Hall,  of 
Lancasterian  schools,  of  a  Penitentiary,"  etc.  They 
also  refer  to  the  question  whether  a  State  has  a  right  to 
prohibit  the  sale  of  lottery  tickets  authorized  to  be 
issued  in  another  jurisdiction,  in  regard  to  which  they 
express  no  opinion,  but  think  it  sufficient  that  it  has 
been  decided  in  favor  of  the  prohibitory  laws.  They 
seek  no  controversy,  and  only  ask  of  the  States  what 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  mid  Work. 

they  "  have  always  rendered  to  them."  They  conclude 
with  a  moving  appeal  on  account  of  the  name  of  the 
City,  and  the  equity  of  their  claim  to  toleration. 

This  memorial  was  referred  to  a  committee  of  three 
members,  of  which  Mr.  Kelley  was  chairman.  He  pre- 
pared the  following  report,  and,  as  chairman,  submitted 
it  to  the  Senate  on  the  24th  of  December : 

"The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  memorial  of 
the  '  Mayor,  Aldermen,  and  Common  Council  of  the  city  of 
Washington,'  praying  that  an  act  may  be  passed,  '  authoriz- 
ing the  sale,  within  the  State  of  Ohio,  of  tickets  in  any  lot- 
tery which  has  or  may  be  authorized  for  public  purposes  in 
said  city,'  have  had  the  subject  under  consideration,  and  now 


submit  the  following 


Keport. 


"  That,  from  an  examination  of  the  subject  connected  with 
the  prayer  of  the  petiticmers,  your  committee  are  convinced 
it  has  been  the  policy  of  the  General  Assembly  of  Ohio  to  re- 
fuse all  similar  applications,  as  well  those  made  by  our  own 
citizens  as  by  citizens  of  other  states. 

"Several  applications  have  been  made  by  citizens  or  bodies 
corporate  within  this  state,  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  au- 
thority from  the  Legislature  to  raise  money  by  way  of  lot- 
teries to  aid  in  the  prosecution  of  some  favorite  objects. 
These  applications,  though  made  for  purposes  in  themselves 
confessedly  laudable,  and  of  manifest  public  utility,  have  of 
late  years  been  uniformly  refused.  This  refusal  has  probably 
resulted  from  a  conviction  on  the  part  of  the  Legislature,  that 
lotteries  are  detrimental  to  the  public  welfare  and  demoraliz- 
ing in  their  influence  on  the  community.  In  this  opinion, 
your  committee  fully  concur. 

"  The  direct  and  obvious  tendency  of  lotteries  is  to  take 
from  the  many,  and  give  to  the  few ;  to  create  fortunes  for 
individuals  at  the  expense  of  their  fellow-citizens,  and  thereby 
in  some  measure  destroy  that  equality  in  the  distribution  of 
property  which  we  believe  to  be  one  of  the  strongest  pillars 
of  a  republican  government.  We  conceive  the  dealing  in 
lottery  tickets  to  be  a  species  of  gaming,  which,  in  many  in- 

21 


Alfred  Kelley;  his  Life  and  Work. 

stances,  induces  at  least  a  partial  reliance  on  fortune  for  that 
support  and  competency  for  the  attainment  of  which  pru- 
dence teaches  us  to  rely  on  our  own  exertions.  So  far  as 
this  is  true,  lotteries  tend  directly  to  discourage  industry, 
which  is  the  parent  of  national,  as  well  as  individual,  wealth 
and  prosperity ;  and  to  promote  idleness,  and  a  spirit  of  im- 
prudent speculation,  with  all  their  attendant  train  of  disap- 
pointments, vices,  and  crimes.  We,  moreover,  conceive  it 
extremely  inconsistent  for  a  legislature,  whose  acts  prohibit 
private  or  individual  gaming,  under  severe  penalties,  to  sanc- 
tion legal  or  public  gaming,  which,  in  its  effects,  may  be 
equally  pernicious.  Nor  can  we  admit,  in  this  instance,  that 
the  end,  however  laudable,  will  justify  the  means. 

"  The  raising  of  money  by  lotteries  is  only  another  method 
of  taxing  the  people,  more  agreeable,  perhaps,  to  some,  be- 
cause voluntary ;  but  doubly  severe  and  oppressive  in  its 
effect,  as  the  people  are  taxed  not  only  for  the  benefit  of  the 
public,  but  also  to  create  fortunes  for  successful  individuals — 
and  we  can  see  no  difference,  as  it  respects  the  burden  of  the 
contribution,  whether  the  people  are  induced  by  flattering 
promises  to  part  with  their  money,  or  whether  it  is  taken 
from  them  by  the  strong  arm  of  legal  authority. 

"  The  people  of  Ohio,  we  believe,  feel  no  hostility  to  the 
growth  or  improvement  of  the  city  of  Washington  ;  on  the 
contrary,  we  are  confident  they  feel  the  same  pride,  and  the 
same  interest  in  the  respectability  and  beauty  of  our  national 
metropolis — of  that  city  which  bears  the  beloved  name  of 
Washington — which  is  common  to  the  bosom  of  every 
American.  But  we  conceive  that  neither  justice  nor  good 
policy  will  permit  this  General  Assembly,  who  are  consti- 
tuted the  guardians  of  the  welfare  and  morals  of  the  people 
of  Ohio,  to  sacrifice  those  important  considerations  in  order 
to  aid  in  the  improvement  of  the  city  of  Washington,  how- 
ever desirable  that  object  may  be. 

'"■  Interesting  as  the  questions  of  state  rights  afid  preroga- 
tives may  be  to  the  General  Assembly  and  people  of  Ohio,  we 
are  far  from  accusing  the  citizens  of  Washington  of  any  im- 
proper interference  in  the  decision  of  those  questions.  And, 
even  had  they  so  interfered,  we  are  not  conscious  that  mo- 
tives of  resentment  would  indicate  to  this  General  Assembly 
any  other  course  in  relation  to  the  memorial  under  considera- 
tion than  that  pointed  out  by  justice  and  sound  policy. 
While  the  Legislature  of  Ohio  are  disposed  to  defend  with 

22 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

firmness  the  rights  and  prerogatives  of  the  State  by  all  rea- 
sonable and  prudent  means,  we  believe  they  are  not  disposed 
to  be  illiberal  or  unjust,  even  to  those  who  may  not  coincide 
with  them  in  opinion.  And  we  are  confident  that  no  reasona- 
ble man,  or  body  of  men,  will  attribute  to  improper  motives  a 
refusal  of  this  General  Assembly  to  extend  to  the  citizens  of 
other  districts  or  states  privileges  which,  from  motives  of  pol- 
icy, are  denied  to  the  citizens  of  Ohio. 

"  Your  committee  therefore  recommend  the  adoption  of  the 
following  resolution,  viz: 

^^ Resolved  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  That 
the  prayer  of  the  mayor,  aldermen,  and  common  council  of 
the  city  of  Washington,  soliciting  the  passage  of  a  law  au- 
thorizing tiie  sale  of  lottery  tickets  within  this  State,  is  incon- 
sistent with  sound  policy,  and  therefore  ought  not  to  be 
granted. 

•Resolved,  That  his  Excellency,  the  Governor,  be  requested 
to  transmit  a  copy  of  the  foregoing  report  and  resolution  to 
the  mayor  of  the  city  of  Washington." 

The  report  was  adopted  by  the  Senate  and  House. 

23 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work, 


CHAPTER  IV. 

PUBLIC   SCHOOLS  AND   THE   PUBLIC   LANDS. 

Public  lands  set  apart  for  schools. — Maryland's  objections. — 
Legislative  report  in  full. — Equal-  privileges  claimed  for  all  the 
States. — Maryland  demands  her  share. — Resolutions  transmitted 
to  Governor  and  Legislature  of  Ohio. — Views  of  New  Hampshire. 


Very  soon  after  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States,  the  importance  of  schools  as  an  agent 
for  the  diffusion  of  knowledge  was  appreciated  by  the 
members  of  Congress  as  well  as  by  all  other  thinking 
and  intelligent  people.  It  was  obvious  to  them  that  our 
form  of  government  is  not  adapted  to  a  nation  in  which 
the  masses  are  ignorant  and  illiterate.  That  body  there- 
fore, in  the  formation  of  new  States,  provided  for  the 
stability  of  the  government  by  setting  apart  in  each  of 
such  States,  with  the  exception  of  Kentucky,  a  portion 
of  the  public  lands  as  a  fund  for  the  establishment  and 
support  of  schools ;  and,  in  some  instances,  of  higher 
grades  of  institutions  of  learning.  The  aggregate  of 
lands  which  had  thus  been  set  apart  for  schools  in  the 
new  States,  when  added  to  what  would  be  thus  set  apart 
in  others  to  be  thereafter  organized,  was  very  large,  and 
its  magnitude  attracted  the  attention  of  the  old  or  orig- 
inal States.  Some  of  them  entertained  the  idea  that 
such  appropriations  deprived  them  of  their  share  of  the 

24 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

value  of  such  lands,  and  were  therefore  unjust.  Under 
the  belief  that  they  had  been  thus  wronged,  the  Legis- 
lature of  the  State  of  Maryland,  in  the  early  part  of  the 
year  1821,  adopted  a  report  in  which  this  claim  is  fully 
set  forth,  and  a  full  equivalent,  from  the  public  lands,  is 
specifically  demanded.  This  report  was  approved  by  the 
State  of  New  Hampshire  in  June  of  that  year.  That 
approval  was  also  accompanied  by  a  report  in  which  the 
action  of  Congress,  in  behalf  of  the  old  States  and 
Kentucky,  is  invoked,  not  as  a  matter  of  favor,  but  of 
right. 

These  reports  were  transmitted  to  the  several  States 
of  the  Union  for  approval,  and  to  the  senators  and  mem- 
bers of  Congress  to  induce  their  favorable  action.  The 
discussion  involved  important  national  questions,  and 
was  carried  on  between  States.  The  amount  involved, 
according  to  the  reports  referred  to,  was  more  than 
fourteen  millions  of  acres  of  the  public  domain. 

To  .  appreciate  this  discussion,  and  particularly  the 
views  entertained  by  the  State  of  Ohio,  it  is  necessary 
to  introduce  a  large  portion  of  the  report  of  the  State  of 
Mar^/land. 

That  State  presented  its  view  as  follows : 

"The  committee,  to  whom  was  referred  so  much  of  the 
Governor's  message  as  relates  to  education  and  public  instruc- 
tion, beg  leave  to  report : 

"That  they  concur  with  his  Excellency  in  believing  edu- 
cation, and  a  general  diffusion  of  knowledge,  in  a  government 
constituted  like  ours,  to  be  of  great  importance,  and  that, 
*  in  proportion  as  the  structure  of  a  government  gives  weight 
to  public  opinion,  it  is  essential  that  the  public  opinion  should 

25 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

be  enlightened.'  Your  committee  consider  our  government 
as  emphatically  a  government  of  opinion.  A  general  diffu- 
sion of  knowledge,  which  is  essential  to  its  right  administra- 
tion, can  not  be  effected,  unless  the  people  are  educated.  No 
high  degree  of  civilization,  of  moral  power  and  dignity,  or  of 
intellectual  excellence;  no  superiority  in  science,  in  litera- 
ture, or  in  liberal  and  useful  arts,  which  constitutes  the  no- 
blest national  supremacy,  can  be  attained  without  the  aid  of 
seminaries  of  learning.  The  establishment  of  literary  insti- 
tutions, then,  of  all  grades,  from  the  common  school  up  to 
the  university,  becomes  the  first  duty  of  the  Legislature  of  a 
free  people. 

Your  committee  are  well  aware  of  the  difficulty,  in  the 
present  embarrassed  state  of  our  pecuniary  concerns,  of  pro- 
viding the  means  of  making  education  general.  They  are 
fully  sensible,  that  at  this  time  large  appropriations  out  of  the 
public  treasury  for  this  purpose,  all-important  as  it  is,  can  not 
be  expected.  They  deem  it,  therefore,  their  duty  to  recall  to 
your  notice  a  Report  and  certain  Resolutions,  presented  to  the 
Senate  at  the  last  session  by  a  committee  of  like  nature  with  the 
present,  which  has  been  referred  to  your  committee,  as  a  part 
of  the  unfinished  business.  The  object  of  these  Resolutions 
was  to  call  the  attention  of  Congress  and  the  Legislatures  of 
the" several  States  to  the  Public  Lands,  as  a  fund  from  which 
appropriations  for  the  purposes  of  education  may  with  justice 
be  claimed,  not  only  by  Maryland,  but  all  the  original  States 
and  three  of  the  new  ones. 

*'  One  thirty-sixth  part  of  all  the  States  and  Territories 
(except  Kentucky),  whose  waters  fall  into  the  Mississippi  and 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  has  been  appropriated  by  Congress, 
wherever  the  Indian  title  has  been  extinguished,  and  provi- 
sions made  for  further  appropriations,  according  to  the  same 
ratio,  wherever  the  Indian  title  may  hereafter  be  extinguished, 
for  the  support  of  common  schools;  and  other  large  appropri- 
ations have  been  made  for  the  support  of  seminaries  of  a 
higher  grade.  Your  committee  are  of  opinion,  that  the 
States  for  whose  benefit  no  such  appropriations  have  been 
made  are  entitled  to  ask  them  of  Congress,  not  as  a  matter  of 
favor,  but  of  justice.  That  this  may  fully  appear,  especially 
as  the  right  of  those  States  to  an  equal  participation  with  the 
States  formed  out  of  the  Public  Lands  in  all  the  benefits  de- 
rived from  them  has  been  doubted,  your  committee  have 

26 


Alfred  KeUey ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

deemed  it  proper  to  take  a  cursory  view  of  the  manner  in 
which  they  have  been  acquired. 

"Before  the  war  of  the  revolution,  and  indeed  for  some 
years  after  it,  several  of  the  States  possessed,  within  their  nom- 
inal limits,  extensive  tracts  of  waste  and  unsettled  lands. 
These  States  were  all,  at  that  epoch,  regal,  and  not  iwoprietary, 
and  the  crown,  either  directly  or  through  the  medium  of  offi- 
cers, whose  authority  had  been  prescribed  or  assented  to  by 
the  crown,  was  in  the  habit  of  granting  those  lands.  The 
right  of  disposing  of  them  was  claimed  and  exercised  by  the 
crown  in  some  form  or  other.  They  might,  therefore,  with 
strict  propriety,  be  called  the  property  of  the  crown. 

''A  question  arose  soon  after  Ihe  declaration  of  independ- 
ence, whether  those  lands  should  belong  to  the  United  States, 
or  to  the  individual  States  within  whose  nominal  limits  they 
were  situated. 

"  However  that  question  might  be  decided,  no  doubt  could 
be  entertained,  that  the  property  and  jurisdiction  of  the  soil 
were  acquired  by  the  common  sword,  purse  and  blood  of  all 
the  States,  united  in  a  common  effort.  Justice,  therefore, 
demanded  that,  considered  in  the  light  of  property,  the  vacant 
lands  should  be  sold  to  defray  the  expenses  incurred  in  the 
contest  by  which  they  were  obtained ;  and  the  future  har- 
mony of  the  States  required,  that  the  extent  and  ultimate 
population  of  the  several  States  should  not  be  so  dispropor- 
tionate as  they  would  be  if  their  nominal  limits  should  be 
retained." 

"  By  the  treaty  of  peace  in  1788,  Great  Britain  relinquished 
*  to  the  United  States  all  claim  to  the  government  property, 
and  territorial  rights  of  the  same,  and  every  part  thereof.' 

"The  justice  and  sound  policy  of  ceding  the  unsettled 
lands,  urged  with  great  earnestness  and  force  by  those  States 
which  had  united  in  conquering  them  from  Great  Britain, 
strengthened  by  the  surrender,  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain, 
of  her  rights  of  property  and  jurisdiction  to  the  United 
States  collectively,  and  aided,  moreover,  by  the  elevated  and 
patriotic  spirit  of  disinterestedness  and  conciliation,  which 
then  animated  the  whole  confederation,  at  length  made  the 
requisite  impression  upon  the  States  which  had  exclusively 
claimed  those  lands;  and  each  of  them,  with  the  exception  of 
Georgia,  made  cessions  of  their  respective  claims  within  a  few 
years   after  the   peace.     Those   States   were   Massachusetts, 

27 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

Connecticut,  New  York,  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  and  South 
Carolina,  the  charters  of  which,  with  the  exception  of  New 
York,  extended  westward ly  to  the  South  Sea  or  Pacific 
Ocean.  This  circumstance  gave  to  Massachusetts  and  Con- 
necticut a  joint  claim  with  Virginia  to  sucli  parts  of  what 
was  then  called  the  North-western  Territory  as  came  within 
the  breadth  of  their  respective  charters.  The  rest  of  that 
territory  lay  within  the  limits  of  the  charter  of  Virginia. 
New  York,  indeed,  had  an  indefinite  claim  to  a  part  of  it. 
Cessions,  however,  from  all  these  States  at  length  completed 
the  title  of  the  United  States,  and  placed  it  beyond  all  con- 
troversy. 

"  The  State  of  North  Carolina  ceded  its  claim  to  the  terri- 
tory which  now  constitutes  the  State  of  Tennessee. 

"  Georgia  (whose  charter  also  extended  westwardly  to  the 
Pacific  Ocean)  at  length,  in  1802,  ceded  the  territory  which 
now  constitutes  the  States  of  Mississippi  and  Alabama,  except 
a  small  part  on  the  south  side  of  them,  which  was  acquired 
under  the  treaty  cediug  Louisiana.  The  conditions  of  that 
cession  were,  that  the  United  States  should  pay  one  million 
two  hundred  thousand  dollars  to  Georgia,  and  extinguish  the 
Indian  title  within  the  limits  which  she  reserved. 

"  The  United  States  have  in  this  manner  acquired  aa  in- 
disputable title  to  all  the  public  lands  east  of  the  Missis- 
sippi.     ^ 

"All  the  territory  west  of  the  Mississippi,  together  with 
the  southern  extremity  of  the  States  of  Mississippi  and  Ala- 
bama, was  purchased  of  France  for  fifteen  millions  of  dol- 
lars. This  sum,  as  well  as  the  sums  required  for  the  pur- 
chase of  the  Indian  title  to  the  public  lands,  was  paid  out 
of  the  treasury  of  the  United  States. 

'*So  far  therefore  as  acquisition  of  public  lands  has  been 
made  by  purchase,  it  has  been  at  the  common  expense;  so 
far  as  it  lias  been  made  by  war,  it  has  been  by  common 
force;  and  so  far  as  it  has  been  made  by  cessions  from  indi- 
vidual states,  it  has  been  upon  the  ground,  expressly  stipu- 
lated in  most  of  the  acts  or  deeds  of  cession,  that  the  lauds 
should  be  *  considered,'  to  use  the  words  of  the  act  passed 
for  that  purpose  by  the  State  which  made  the  largest  ces- 
sion, '  as  a  common  fund,  for  the  use  and  benefit  of  such  of 
the  states  as  have  become,  or  shall  become,  members  of  the 
confederation  or  federal  alliance  of  said  States,  according  to 
their  usual  respective  proportions  in  the  general  charge  and 

28 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

expenditure,  and  shall  faithfully  and  bona  fide  be  disposed 
of  for  that  purpose,  and  for  no  other  use  or  purpose  whatso- 
ever.' 

'*In  whatever  point  of  view  therefore  the  public  lauds  are 
considered,  whether  as  acquired  by  purchase,  conquest  or 
cession,  they  are  emphatically  the  common  property  of  the 
Union.  They  ought  to  inure,  therefore,  to  the  common  use 
and  benefit  of  all  the  States,  in  just  proportions,  and  can  not 
be  appropriated  to  the  use  and  benefit  of  any  particular 
State  or  States,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  others,  without  an 
infringement  of  the  principles  upon  which  cessions  from  States 
were  expressly  made,  and  a  violation  of  the  spirit  of  our 
national  compact,  as  well  as  the  principles  of  justice  and  sound 
policy. 

"So  far  as  these  lands  have  been  sold,  and  the  proceeds 
been  received  into  the  national  treasury,  all  the  States  have 
derived  a  justly  proportionate  benefit  irom  them  ;  so  far  as 
they  have  been  appropriated  for  purposes  of  defense,  there  is  no 
ground  for  complaint,  for  the  defense  of  every  part  of  the 
country  is  a  common  concern  ;  so  far,  in  a  word,  as  the  proceeds 
have  been  applied  to  national,  and  not  state  purposes,  although 
the  expenditure  may  have  been  local,  the  course  of  the  gen- 
eral government  has  been  consonant  to  the  principles  and 
spirit  of  the  Federal  Constitution.  But  so  far  as  appropria- 
tions have  been  made,  in  favor  of  any  State  or  States,  to  the 
exclusion  of  the  rest,  where  the  appropriations  would  have 
been  beneficial,  and  might  have  been  extended  to  all  alike, 
your  committee  conceive  there  has  been  a  departure  from 
that  line  of  policy  which  impartial  justice,  so  essential  to  the 
peace,  harmony,  and  stability  of  the  Union,  imperiously  pre- 
scribes. 

"  Your  committee  then  proceed  to  inquire,  whether  the  acts 
of  Congress,  in  relation  to  appropriations  of  public  lands, 
have  been  conformable  to  the  dictates  of  impartial  justice. 

"  By  the  laws  relating  to  the  survey  and  sale  of  the  pub- 
lic lands,  one  thirty -sixth  part  of  them  has  been  reserved  and 
appropriated  in  perpetuity  for  the  support  of  common  schools. 
The  public  lands  are  laid  ofl^'into  townships,  six  miles  square, 
by  lines  running  with  the  cardinal  points ;  these  townships  are 
then  divided  into  thirty-six  sections,  each  a  mile  square,  and 
containing  640  acres,  which  are  designated  by  numbers.  Sec- 
tion No.  16,  which  is  always  a  central  section,  has  invariably 
been  appropriated  (and  provision  has  been  made  by  law  for 

29 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

the  like  appropriations  in  future  surveys)  for  the  support  of 
common  schools  in  each  township. 

"  In  Tennessee,  in  addition  to  the  appropriation  of  a  sec- 
tion in  each  township  for  common  schools,  200,000  acres  have 
been  assi^ined  for  the  endowment  of  colleges  and  academies. 
Large  appropriations  have  also  been  made  in  Ohio,  Indiana, 
Illinois,  Mississi})pi,  Alabama,  Louisiana,  Missouri,  Michigan, 
and  the  North-western  Territory,  for  the  erection  and  main- 
tenance of  seminaries  of  learning  of  higher  grade  than  com- 
mon schools.  Your  committee  have  not  had  an  opportunity 
of  ascertaining  the  exact  amount  of  these  appropriations, 
but,  from  such  examination  as  they  have  been  able  to  make, 
it  is  believed  that  they  bear  a  smaller  proportion  to  those  for 
common  schools  than  in  Tennessee." 

Then,  after  some  statistics  which  show  the  amount  ap- 
propriated and  to  be  appropriated,  and  making  the  ag- 
gregate as  above  stated,  the  document  proceeds : 

"  Such  is  the  vast  amount  of  property  destined  for  the  sup- 
port and  encouragement  of  learning  in  the  States  and  terri- 
tories, carved  out  of  the  public  lands.  These  large  appropria- 
tions of  land,  the  common  property  of  the  Union,  will  inure  to 
the  exclusive  benefit  of  those  States  and  territories.  They  are 
appropriations  for  state  and  not  for  national  purposes.  They 
are  of  such  a  nature  that  they  might  have  been  extended  to 
all  the  States ;  they  therefore  ought  to  have  been  thus  ex- 
tended. All  the  other  States  paid  their  full  share  for  the 
purchase  of  the  region  west  of  the  Mississippi,  and  for  the 
extinguishment  of  the  Indian  title  on  both  sides  of  that  river. 
Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South 
Carolina,  and  Georgia,  besides  paying  their  proportion  of 
those  expenses,  ceded  all  their  vacant  territory  on  the  east 
side  oi'  the  Mississippi.  All  these  States,  therefore,  might 
with  great  propriety  complain  of  partiality  and  injustice,  if 
their  application  to  Congress  for  similar  appropriations  for  like 
purposes  should  be  refused.  But  of  this  refusal  they  need 
have  no  apprehension,  if  they  are  true  to  their  own  interests, 
and  are  united  in  asserting  them ;  for,  if,  contrary  to  all  rea- 
sonable expectation,  the  States  which  have  already  received 
the  benefit  of  literary  appropriations  should  be  opposed  to 
the  extension  of  them  to  their  sister  States,  the  latter  are 

30 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

more  than  two-tbirds  in  number  of  all  tbe  United  States,  and 
have  a  still  larger  proportion  of  representatives  in  Congress. 
These  States  are  Vermont,  New  Hampshire,  Maine,  Massa- 
chusetts, Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  New  York,  New  Jersey, 
Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Maryland,  Virginia,  North  Caro- 
lina, South  Carolina,  Georgia,  and  Kentucky,  and,  together, 
have  one  hundred  and  sixty-nine  representatives  in  Congress. 
The  favored  States,  on  tbe  contrary,  have  only  seventeen  rep- 
resentatives. The  excluded  States  have,  therefore,  an  over- 
whelming majority  in  Congress,  and  have  it  completely  in 
their  power  to  make  appropriations  for  the  benefit  of  their  lit- 
erary institutiims,  upon  the  improbable  supposition  that  the 
representatives  of  the  favored  States  would  oppose  them  in 
Congress,  a  supposition  too  discreditable  to  their  character  for 
justice  to  be  admitted. 

"The  magnitude  of  the  appropriations  that  would  be  re- 
quired to  place  the  States  which  have  not  yet  enjoyed  any, 
for  the  purposes  of  education,  upon  an  equal  footing  with 
those  in  whose  favor  they  have  already  been  made,  can  afford 
no  just  ground  of  objection.  For,  superior  as  the  population 
of  those  States  is,  yet,  if  the  ratio  of  appropriation  be  ob- 
served with  regard  to  them  which  has  been  adopted  in  rela- 
tion to  the  others,  i.  e.,  one  thirty-sixth  part  of  the  number  of 
acres  in  the  territory  of  each  for  common  schools,  and  one- 
fifth  of  that  one  thirty-sixth  for  colleges  and  academies,  the 
number  of  acres  required  will  be  much  less  than  has  already 
been  given  to  the  favored  States  and  teiTitories ;  it  will  in- 
deed amount  to  but  a  very  small  portion  of  the  public  lands. 
For,  according  to  Seybert's  Statistical  Annals,  those  lands,  in 
1813,  amounted  to  400,000,000  acres.  The  amount  required 
for  all  the  excluded  States  would  be  less  than  two  and  a  half 
per  centum  of  that  quantity  ;  to  show  which  more  clearly, 
your  committee  beg  leave  to  submit  the  following  statement, 
founded  upon  calculations  made  upon  the  extent  of  territory 
in  each  of  those  States,  as  laid  down  in  Seybert's  Statistical 
Annals." 

Then  follows  a  table  showing  the  number  of  acres  it 
is  claimed  each  of  the  old  States  and  Kentucky  are  en- 
titled to,  and  the  report  concludes  : 

"  The  circumstance,  that  the  lands  which  have  heretofore 

31 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

been  appropriated  for  the  purposes  of  education  are  a  part  of 
the  territory  of  the  States  for  whose  benefit  they  have  been 
assigned,  can  furnish  no  reasonable  ground  for  the  preference 
which  has  been  given  them.  The  public  lands  are  not  the 
less  the  common  property  of  all  the  States  because  they  are 
situated  within  the  jurisdictional  limits  of  the  States  and  ter- 
ritories which  have  been  formed  out  of  them.  Such  States 
have  no  power  to  tax  them ;  they  can  not  interfere  with  the 
primary  disposal  of  them,  or  with  the  regulations  of  Congress 
for  securing  the  titles  to  purchasers ;  it  is,  in  fact.  Congress 
alone  that  can  enact  laws  to  affect  them.  The  interest  which 
a  citizen  of  an  Atlantic  State  has  in  them,  as  a  part  of  the 
property  of  the  Union,  is  the  same  as  the  interest  of  a  citizen 
residing  in  a  State  formed  out  of  them.  But  hitherto  appro- 
priations of  them  for  state  purposes  have  only  been  made  in 
favor  of  such  States ;  and  the  citizen  on  the  eastern  side  of 
the  Allegheny  may  well  complain,  that  property  in  Avhich  he 
has  a  common  interest  with  his  fellow-citizen  on  the  western 
side  should  be  appropriated  exclusively  to  the  use  of  the  latter. 
That  this  is  tiie  fact  in  regard  to  that  part  of  the  public  lauds 
which  have  been  assigned  for  the  support  of  literary  institu- 
tions and  the  promotion  of  education,  can  not  be  denied. 

"Your  committee  do  not  censure  the  enlighted  policy 
which  governed  Congress  in  making  liberal  appropriations  of 
land  for  the  encouragement  of  learning  in  the  West,  nor  do 
they  wish  to  withdraw  one  acre  of  them  from  the  purposes  to 
which  they  have  been  devoted  ;  but  they  think  they  are  fully 
justified  in  saying,  that  impartial  justice  required  that  similar 
appropriations  should  have  been  extended  to  all  the  States 
alike.  Suppose  Congress  should  appropriate  200,000  acres  of 
the  public  lands  for  the  support  of  colleges  and  academies  in 
New  York ;  and  Virginia,  who  gave  up  and  ceded  a  great 
portion  of  those  lands  to  the  United  States,  on  the  express 
condition  that  '  they  should  be  considered  as  a  common  fund 
for  the  use  and  benefit  of  all  of  them  according  to  their  usual 
rtispective  proportions  in  the  general  charge  and  expenditure,' 
should  apply  for  a  similar  grant,  and  her  application  should 
be  refused ;  would  she  not  have  a  right  to  complain  of  the 
partiality  of  such  a  measure,  and  to  charge  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment with  a  breach  of  good  faith,  and  an  infringement  of 
the  conditions  on  which  the  cession  was  made?  It  can  not 
be  denied  that  she  would.  Congress  have  already  made  a 
grant  of  200,000  acres  of  land  for  the  support  of  colleges  and 

32 


Alfred  Kelley ;  Ms  Life  and  Work. 

academies,  not  indeed  in  New  York,  but  in  Tennessee. 
Would  not  Virginia,  if  she  now  made  an  application  for  a 
like  grant,  and  were  refused,  have  the  same  reason  to  com- 
plain, as  if  New  York,  instead  of  Tennessee,  had  been  the 
favored  State? 

"Your  committee  beg  leave  to  illustrate,  by  another  ex- 
ample, the  equity  of  the  principle  which  it  is  the  object  of 
this  report  to  establish.  Foreign  commerce  and  the  public 
lands  are  alike  legitimate  sources  from  which  the  United 
States  may  and  do  derive  revenue.  Foreign  commerce  has 
fixed  its  seat  in  the  Atlantic  States.  Suppose  Congress  should 
pass  a  law,  appropriating  one  thirty-sixth  part  of  the  revenue 
collected  from  foreign  commerce  in  the  ports  of  Baltimore, 
New  York,  Boston,  Norfolk,  Charleston  and  Savannah,  to  the 
support  of  common  schools  throughout  the  States  in  which 
they  are  situated ;  the  other  States,  every  person  will  admit, 
would  have  a  right  to  complain  of  the  partiality  and  injustice 
of  such  an  act ;  and  yet,  in  what  respect  would  an  act  appro- 
priating one  thirty-sixth  part  of  the  revenue  derived  from  for- 
eign commerce  to  the  use  of  schools  in  the  six  States  in  which 
it  should  be  produced,  be  more  partial  or  unjust  than  an  act 
appropriating  one  thirty-sixth  part  of  the  public  land  in 
Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Tennessee,  Mississippi  and  Alabama, 
the  six  States  in  which  the  public  lands  on  this  side  of  the 
Mississippi  are  chiefly  situated,  to  their  exclusive  benefit  in 
the  maintenance  of  their  schools? 

"  Your  committee  are  aware  that  it  has  been  said  that  the 
appropriation  of  a  part  of  the  public  lands  to  the  purposes  of 
education,  for  the  benefit  of  the  States  formed  out  of  them, 
has  had  the  effect  of  raising  the  value  of  the  residue  in  in- 
ducing emigrants  to  settle  upon  them.  Although  in  the  pre- 
ambles of  such  of  the  acts  on  this  subject  as  have  preambles, 
the  promotion  of  religion,  morality,  and  knowledge,  as  neces- 
sary to  good  government  and  the  happiness  of  mankind,  have 
been  assigned  as  the  reason  for  passing  them,  and  no  men- 
tion has  been  made  of  the  consequent  increase  in  the  value 
of  the  lands  that  would  remain,  as  a  motive  for  the  appro- 
priation, yet  the  knowledge,  that  provision  had  been  made 
for  the  education  of  children  in  the  west,  though  other  mo- 
tives usually  influence  emigrants,  might  have  had  its  weight 
in  inducing  some  to  leave  their  native  homes.  If  such  has 
been  the  effect,  the  value  of  the  residue  of  the  lands  has,  no 
doubt,  been  increased  by  it.     This  increase  of  value,  how- 

3  33 


Alfred  Kelley ;  Ms  Life  and  Work. 

ever,  has  not  been  an  exclusive  benefit  to  the  Atlantic  States; 
but  a  benefit  to  all  the  States,  eastern  and  western,  while  the 
latter  enjoy  exclusively  the  advantage  derived  from  the  ap- 
propriations of  land  for  literary  purposes.  The  incidental 
advantage  of  the  increase  in  value  of  the  public  lands  in  con- 
sequence of  emigration,  if  it  is  to  be  considered  in  the  light 
of  a  compensation  to  the  old  States,  must  be  shown  to  be  an 
advantage  exclusively  enjoyed  by  them.  That  this,  however, 
is  not  the  case,  is  perfectly  obvious,  because  the  proceeds  of 
the  lands  thus  raised  in  value  by  emigration,  when  sold,  go 
into  the  United  States  treasury,  and  are  applied,  like  other 
revenues,  to  the  general  benefit — in  other  words,  to  national 
and  not  state  purposes. 

"It  is  moreover  most  clear  that  this  increase  of  the  value 
of  lands  in  consequence  of  emigration  produces  a  peculiar 
benefit  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  new  States,  in  which  the  in- 
habitants of  the  otlier  States,  unless  owners  of  lands  in  the 
new,  have  no  participation.  This  benefit  consists  in  the  in- 
crease of  the  value  of  their  own  private  property. 

"  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  undoubtedly  true  that  emigra- 
tion is  injurious  .to  the  Atlantic  States,  and  to  them  alone. 
While  it  has  had  the  eflfect  of  raising  the  price  of  lands  in 
the  west,  it  has,  in  an  equal  ratio,  at  least,  and  probably  in 
a  much  greater,  prevented  the  increase  of  the  value  of  lands 
in  the  States  which  the  emigrants  have  left.  It  is  an  indis- 
putable principle  in  political  economy  that  the  price  of  every 
object  of  purchase,  whether  land  or  personal  property,  de- 
pends upon  the  relation  which  supply  bears  to  demand.  The 
demand  for  land  would  have  been  the  same,  or  very  nearly 
so,  for  the  same  number  of  people  as  are  contained  within 
the  present  limits  of  the  United  States,  if  they  had  been  con- 
fined within  the  limits  of  the  Atlantic  States.  But  the  sup- 
ply in  that  case  would  have  been  most  materially  difl^erent. 
It  niust  have  been  so  small  in  proportion  to  the  demand,  as 
to  occasion  a  great  rise  in  the  value  ot  land  in  the  Atlantic 
States;  for  it  can  not  be  doubted  that  it  is  the  inexhaustible 
supply  of  cheap  and  good  land  in  the  west,  which  has  kept 
down  the  price  of  land  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Allegheny. 
If  the  Atlantic  States  had  been  governed  by  an  exclusive, 
local,  and  selfish  policy,  every  impediment  would  have  been 
thrown  in  the  way  of  emigration,  which  has  constantly  and 
uniibrndy  operated  to  prevent  the  growth  of  their  numbers, 
wealth,  and  power;  for  which  disadvantage  the  appreciation 

34 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work, 

of  their  interest  in  the  public  lands,  consequent  upon  emigra- 
tion, can  afford  no  adequate  compensation.  It  appearing 
then  perfectly  clear  to  your  committee  that  emigration  is  ex- 
clusively advantageous  to  the  new  States,  whose  population, 
wealth,  and  power  are  thereby  increased  at  the  expense  of 
those  States  which  the  emigrants  abandoned,  the  inducement 
to  emigration  furnished  by  tlie  appropriation  of  public  lands 
for  the  purposes  of  education  in  the  west,  instead  of  affording 
a  reason  for  confining  such  appropriations  to  that  quarter  of 
the  Union,  offers  the  most  weighty  considerations  of  both 
justice  and  policy  in  favor  of  extending  them  to  the  States 
which  have  not  yet  obtained  them. 

*'  Your  committee  beg  leave  to  present  one  further  reflec- 
tion to  the  consideration  of  the  Senate,  drawn  from  the  effect 
produced  by  encouraging  learning  in  the  Western  States 
alone,  upon  the  relative  moral  power  of  the  Atlantic  and 
Mississippi  States.  They  are  far  from  wishing  to  make  any 
objection  to  the  augmentation  of  the  intelligence  and  mental 
improvement  of  the  people  of  the  west.  On  the  contrary, 
they  sincerely  desire  the  advancement  of  their  brethren  in 
that  quarter  of  the  Union,  in  every  thing  that  can  strengthen, 
dignify,  and  embellish  political  communities.  But,  while 
they  entertain  these  sentiments,  they  can  not  shut  their  eyes 
to  the  political  preponderance  which  must  ultimately  be  the 
inevitable  result  of  the  superior  advantages  of  education  there, 
and  they  must,  therefore,  ardently  desire  that  the  same  ad- 
vantages be  extended  to  the  people  of  the  Atlantic  States. 

"  Your  committee  are  pursuaded  that,  from  the  views 
which  they  have  presented  on  the  subject  of  appropriations  of 
public  lauds  for  the  purposes  of  education,  the  Senate  will  be 
satisfied  that  Maryland,  and  the  other  States  which  have  not 
yet  had  the  benefit  of  any  such  appropriations,  are  entitled  to 
ask  of  the  general  government  to  be  placed  on  an  equal  footing 
with  the  States  which  have  already  received  them.  They  be- 
lieve that  no  one,  convinced  of  the  justice  of  such  a  measure, 
can  question  its  expediency ;  nor  can  they  entertain  any  ap- 
prehension that  an  application  to  Congress,  supported  by  the 
combined  influence  of  all  the  States  which  are  interested,  would 
fail  of  success.  For  the  purpose,  therefore,  of  drawing  the  atten- 
tion of  the  National  Legislature  to  this  important  subject,  and 
of  obtaining  the  co-operation  of  the  other  States,  your  com- 
mittee beg  leave  to  recommend  the  adoptioi.  of  the  following 
resolutions: 

35 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

^^ Resolved,  by  the  General  Assembly  of  Maryland,  That  each 
of  the  United  States  has  an  equal  right  to  participate  in  the 
benefit  of  the  public  lands,  the  common  property  of  the 
Union. 

^^Resolved,  That  the  States  in  whose  favor  Congress  have 
not  made  appropriations  of  land  for  the  purposes  of  educa- 
tion, are  entitled  to  such  appropriations  as  will  correspond,  in 
a  just  proportion,  with  those  heretofore  made  in  favor  of  the 
other  States. 

^^ Resolved,  That  his  excellency,  the  Governor,  be  requested 
to  transmit  copies  of  the  foregoing  report  and  resolutions  to 
each  of  our  Senators  and  Representatives  in  Congress,  with  a 
request  that  they  will  lay  the  same  before  their  respective 
houses,  and  use  their  endeavors  to  procure  the  passage  of  an 
act  to  carry  into  eflfect  the  just  principle  therein  set  forth. 

^^ Resolved,  That  his  excellency,  the  Governor,  be  also  re- 
quested to  transmit  copies  of  the  said  report  and  resolutions  to 
the  Governors  of  the  several  States  of  the  Union,  with  a  re- 
quest that  they  will  communicate  the  same  to  the  Legislatures 
thereof  respectively,  and  solicit  their  co-operation." 

The  report  of  the  State  of  New  Hampshire  contains 
the  following : 

"  The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  so  much  of  his  ex- 
cellency's message,  as  relates  to  a  communication  from  the 
Legislature  of  the  State  of  Maryland,  ask  leave  to  report : 

"That  the  communication  submitted  to  them  embraces  a 
report  and  certain  resolutions  thereupon  adopted  by  the  Legis- 
lature of  the  State  of  Maryland  ;  the  object  of  which  is  to  call 
the  attention  of  Congress  and  the  Legislatures  of  the  several 
States  to  the  public  lands,  as  a  fund  from  which  appropria- 
tions for  the  purposes  of  education  may  with  justice  be 
claimed  by  all  the  original  States,  and  some  of  tlie  new 
ones. 

"  Your  committee  have  with  much  attention  examined 
the  grounds  on  which  this  claim  is  supposed  to  rest,  and, 
from  this  examination,  are  satisfied  that  the  principles  con- 
tended for  are  just  and  equitable,  and,  therefore,  do  concur 
in  the  opinion  expressed  in  the  aforesaid  document." 

36 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 


CHAPTER  y. 

THE    SCHOOL    LANDS    QUESTION    CONTINUED. 

The  Maryland  and  New  Hampshire  communications  before  the 
Ohio  Legislature. — The  governor's  message. — Referred  to  a  com- 
mittee.— Mr.  Kelley  chairman. — A  communication  from  Ver- 
mont.— Mr.  Kelley's  report. — An  exhaustive  argument. — Rights 
and  privileges  of  the  several  States. — Maryland's  position  con- 
troverted. 


The  Governor  of  Ohio  with  his  annual  message  trans- 
mitted to  the  Legislature  the  report  of  the  State  of 
Maryland,  with  that  of  New  Hampshire  as  an  accompa- 
nying document,  and  introduced  a  discussion  of  the  sub- 
ject, which  occupied  a  considerable  portion  of  his  mes- 
sage, as  follows  : 

"  Notwithstanding  that  the  appropriations  of  lands  in  the 
western  country  for  the  support  of  schools  have,  hitherto,  been 
very  little  productive,  as  a  literary  fund,  their  advantage  and 
value  have  been  very  highly  appreciated,  by  a  part  of  our 
brethren,  in  the  Eastern  States.  A  report  and  resolutions 
adopted  by  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  Maryland,  and 
now  laid  before  you,  will  show  that  a  claim  is  advanced  to  a  por- 
tion of  the  public  lands,  in  the  new  States  and  the  territories, 
equal  to  one  thirty-siyth  part  of  the  area  of  each  old  State, 
with  the  addition  of  one-fifth  of  that  amount ;  to  equalize,  as 
is  pretended,  a  participation  of  endowment  for  schools,  from 
this  fund,  among  the  States  having  common  property  in  the 
national  possessions.  The  pretensions  therein  set  forth,  and 
supported  by  the  State  of  New  Hampshire,  I  respectfully  ad- 
vise, should  meet  the  remonstrance  of  this  Assembly,  to  pre- 
vent a  scheme  founded  on  principles  believed  to  be  mistaken 

37 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

and  erroneous  and  fraught  with  serious  wrong  to  this,  with 
the  other  new  States  and  the  territories." 

Soon  after  the  Legislature  assembled,  and  on  the  5th  day 
of  December,  1819,  so  much  of  "  the  Governor's  message 
as  relates  to  the  report  and  resolutions  of  the  Legislature 
of  the  State  of  Maryland,  together  with  the  accompanying 
documents,"  was  referred  to  a  select  committee  of  five, 
of  which  Mr.  Kelley  was  chairman.  During  the  ses- 
sion the  Governor  of  Ohio  received  from  the  Governor 
of  Vermont  a  report  and  resolutions  on  the  same  sub- 
ject, and  transmitted  them  also  to  the  Legislature. 
The  report  contains  the  following  paragraphs  : 

"And  that  as  large  appropriations  of  the  public  lands 
have  been  made  by  the  United  States  (and  in  the  opinion  of 
your  committee  with  perfect  propriety),  to  certain  particular 
States,  for  tlie  purpose  of  education,  the  rights  of  other  States 
will  be  violated,  unless  a  like  appropriation  be  made  to  them, 
of  the  public  lands,  for  the  same  purpose,  in  just  proportion. 

"In  those  principles  your  committee  fully  agree  with  the 
Legislatures  of  the  States  of  Maryland  and  New  Hampshire, 
and  believe  the  arguments  detailed  in  the  reports  to  the 
Legislatures  of  those  States  respectively,  and  particularly  that 
from  the  State  of  Maryland,  to  be  altogether  unanswerable." 

This  report  was  also  referred,  in  the  Senate,  to  the  se- 
lect committee  which  had  charge  of  the  one  from  Mary- 
land. 

On  the  26th  of  December  Mr.  Kelley  presented  the 
report  of  the  committee,  of  which  he  was  the  author. 
The  report  is  long  and  exhaustive — such  as  the  grav- 
ity of  the  subject  and  the  exigencies  of  the  State  re- 
quired.    With  the  exception  of    a   few  paragraphs,  in 

38 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work, 

which  the  "  plan  of  distribution  proposed  by  the  Mary- 
land report  "  is  discussed,  it  is  as  follows  : 

"  The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  so  much  of  the  Gov- 
ernor's message  as  relates  to  the  report  and  resolutions  of 
the  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of  Maryland,  with  the  ac- 
companying documents  relating  thereto,  and  papers  on  the 
same  subject,  subsequently  referred,  having  carefully  ex- 
amined the  subject  to  them   committed,  respectfully  submit 


the  following 


REPORT : 


**  That,  from  an  examination  of  the  subject  and  documents 
to  them  referred,  it  appears  that  the  object  of  the  Maryland 
report  and  resolutions  is  to  call  the  attention  of  Congress  and 
the  legislatures  of  the  several  States  to  the  public  lands,  as 
a  fund  from  which  appropriations  may  be  drawn  to  aid  in 
the  support  of  common  schools,  and  seminaries  of  a  higher 
grade.  They  claim  from  the  United  States  for  those  pur- 
poses an  appropriation  of  public  lands  in  favor  of  each  of 
the  old  States,  including  also  Kentucky,  equal  to  one- 
thirtieth  part  of  their  respective  territories.  These  appro- 
priations the  report  and  resolutions  under  consideration 
claim  as  a  matter  of  right,  and  which  by  a  long  course  of 
reasoning  they. attempt  to  prove  Congress  can  not  justly  re- 
fuse, and  intimate  that  the  States  in  whose  favor  the  claims 
are  set  up  have  the  power  to  enforce  them. 

"  In  the  sentiments  expressed  in  the  Maryland  report 
relative  to  the  importance  of  a  general  diffusion  of  knowl- 
edge throughout  our  common  country,  and  in  many  other 
sentiments  expressed  in  that  able  and  ingenious  report,  your 
committee  most  fully  and  cordially  concur. 

''  That  the  public  lands  are  a  fund  from  which  appropria- 
tions may  in  some  manner  be  drawn  for  the  purposes  of  edu- 
cation is  a  proposition  which  your  committee  do  not  at  pres- 
ent feel  disposed  to  controvert.  But  we  can  never  subscribe 
to  principles  which  would  go  to  charge  those  States  in  which 
appropriations  of  school  lands  have  been  made  as  being  still 
debtors  for  lands  for  which  they  have  already  paid  more  than 
a  fair  equivalent ;  nor  can  we  agree  to  doctrines  which  w'ould 
subject  those  States  to  contribution,  on  the  ground  of  having 
received  more  than  their  just  'proportion  of  the  public  lauds, 
when  from  a  full  and  impartial  investigation  it  will  be  mani- 

39 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

fest  they  have  received  far  less.  We  believe  that  neither  the 
State  of  Ohio  nor  the  other  States  which  are  placed  in  a  simi- 
lar situation  as  it  respects  this  question  can  ever  be  justly  ac- 
cused of  ingratitude,  for  refusing  to  acknowledge  benefits 
which  have  never  been  conferred,  nor  of  unchastened  ambi- 
tion, in  calling  to  mind  principles  which  have  been  acknowl- 
edged by  all  the  original  members  of  the  confederacy. 

''The  claim  advanced  in  the  Maryland  report  seems  to 
rest  on  the  assumed  ground  of  a  donation  having  been  made 
to  those  States  whose  waters  fall  into  the  Mississippi  and  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico,  Kentucky  excepted,  of  one  thirty-sixth  part 
of  the  lands  within  their  respective  limits,  for  the  support  of 
common  schools,  and  one-fifth  of  the  same  amount  for  the 
support  of  seminaries  of  a  higher  grade.  The  word  '  appro- 
priations,' it  is  true,  is  used  in  that  report,  but  it  is  asserted 
that  these  .appropriations  will  accrue  to  the  exclusive  benefit 
of  those  States  in  whose  favor,  it  is  contended,  they  are  made  ; 
that  they  are  appropriations  for  State  and  not  for  national 
purposes;  and,  it  seems,  are  therefore  considered  donations  to 
those  States  in  whose  favor  they  are  made ;  and  implies  that 
no  consideration  or  equivalent  has  been  received  l)y  the 
United  States  for  those  appropriations.  This  hypothesis  your 
committee  believe  to  be  founded  in  error;  or,  at  any  rate,  to 
be  but  partially  true. 

"  The  public  lands  of  the  United  States,  as  stated  in  the 
report  under  consideration,  are  surveyed  into  townships  of  six 
miles  square,  and  each  township  into  thirty-six  sections,  con- 
taining 640  acres  each ;  one  of  which  sections,  or  section  No. 
16,  is  set  apart,  or  appropriated,  for  the  use  of  common 
schools;  the  remaining  thirty-five  sections  are  sold  by  the 
United  States,  and,  as  we  contend,  at  an  advanced  price,  be- 
yond what  would  otherwise  be  their  fair  value ;  more  than 
suflScient  to  pay  for  section  No.  16.  In  other  words,  thirty- 
five  sections,  in  each  township,  are  sold  to  individuals,  to  be 
held  in  severalty;  and  section  No.  16  is  sold  to  the  purchasers 
of  the  remaining  thirty -five  sections,  to  be  owned  by  them, 
their  heirs  and  assigns,  in  common,  for  certain  purposes. 
Admitting  this  to  be  a  fair  statement  of  the  case,  as  your 
committee  believe  it  to  be,  it  is  clear  that  there  is  a  complete 
purchase,  made  by  our  citizens,  of  the  whole  township,  in- 
cluding section  No.  16.  And  the  whole  superstructure,  built 
upon  the  supposition  of  a  grant  or  donation,  falls  to  the 
ground,  for  the  same  reasoning  will  apply  with  equal  force  to 

40 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

the  appropriations  made  in  Symmes'  and  the  Ohio  Company's 
purchase  for  colleges,  which  were  only  greater  inducements 
held  out  to  larger  purchasers. 

"  Nor  is  the  doctrine  here  advanced  the  mere  creature  of 
imagination,  unsupported  by  example.  Similar  plans  have 
not  unfrequently  been  adopted  by  individual  laud-holders 
whose  minds  were  sufficiently  enlarged  and  liberal  to  enable 
them  to  pursue  successfully  their  own  eventual  interest,  and 
the  aggregate  amount  received  by  them  for  a  whole  tract  has 
undoubtedly  been  increased  by  such  partial  appropriations. 

"  Your  committee  do  not  pretend  that  Congress,  in  the  pre- 
ambles of  acts,  have  distinctly  avowed,  as  a  motive  for  mak- 
ing these  appropriations,  that  the  value  of  the  remaining 
lands  would  thereby  be  enhanced;  but  are  willing,  so  far  as 
it  concerns  the  question  now  under  consideration,  to  admit 
that  the  real  as  well  as  ostensible  object  was  the  encourage- 
ment of  learning;  nor  is  it  necessary,  in  maintaining  the  prin- 
ciples here  advanced,  to  suppose  that  each  individual  pur- 
chaser has  distinctly  understood  the  extent  and  value  of  his 
right  or  interest  in  section  No.  16,  and  that  the  knowledge  of 
this  right  has  operated  as  an  inducement  to  purchase.  It  is 
sufficient  for  our  purpose  that  the  real  value  of  the  remaining 
thirty-five  sections,  in  each  township,  has  been  enhanced  by 
the  appropriation  of  section  No.  16,  and  that  this  has  been 
understood  by  wealthy  and  reflecting  purchasers,  whose  opin- 
ions and  example  may  be  said,  in  a  great  measure,  to  fix  the 
price  of  lands ;  and  that  an  enhanced  price  has  been  actually 
paid  for  the  remaining  lands,  in  consequence  of  the  appropri- 
ation for  schools. 

"The  committee  of  the  Senate  of  Maryland  seem  to  have 
foreseen  this  objection  to  their  theory ;  and  have,  in  their 
report,  attempted  to  answer  it.  In  doing  this,  they  admit 
that  the  appropriation  for  schools  may  have  operated  as  an 
inducement  to  emigration,  and  may  thereby  have  raised  the 
value  of  the  remaining-  lands;  which  increased  value,  they 
say,  inures  to  the  benefit  of  tlie  Union,  and  the  Western 
States  participate  equally  with  the  Atlantic  States  in  its  ben- 
efits. Admitting  this  position  to  be  correct,  we  are  unable  to 
see  the  force  of  the  deductions  which  they  would  draw  from 
these  premises.  It  only  proves  that  the  purchase-money, 
when  paid,  is  a  common  fund,  in  which  all  the  States  equally 
participate  ;  but  by  no  means  establishes  the  fact  that  all  the 
States  have  contributed  equally  in  raising  this  fund.     If  this 

41 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

increased  value  has  been  paid  by  our  citizens,  who  have  al- 
ready purchased  public  lands,  or  it  is  to  be  paid  by  tliose  who 
may  hereafter  purchase,  before  they  cau  derive  any  benefit 
from  the  school  sections,  we  conceive  the  account  is  thereby 
liquidated  and  discharged  ;  our  citizens  have  paid  the  full 
value  of  the  grant;  the  Nation  has  received  and  appropriated 
the  money  for  the  common  benefit  of  all ;  and  no  claim  can 
be  justly  predicated  on  the  supposition  of  a  donation,  when 
no  such  donation  has  ever  been  made. 

"The  grants  of  school  lands  for  the  benefit  of  the  Connecti- 
cut Western  Reserve,  and  the  Virginia  Military  District, 
would,  at  first  view,  seem  to  form  exceptions  to  our  theory; 
but,  if  our  doctrine  be  correct,  these  grants  would  operate  in 
favor  of  the  proprietors  of  those  lands,  or  the  holders  of  the 
warrants  by  which  they  were  entitled  to  locate  lands  in  the 
Virginia  Military  District,  who  were,  at  the  time  of  making 
those  grants,  mostly  non-residents ;  thereby  enabling  them  to 
demand  of  purchasers  a  greater  price  for  their  lands  or  war- 
rants, in  consequence  of  their  increased  value  resulting  from 
those  donations.  Had  the  lauds  within  the  Connecticut  Re- 
serve been  sold  to  actual  settlers,  or  had  the  lands  within  the 
Virginia  Military  District  been  located  and  possessed  by  citi- 
zens of  this  State,  these  grants  of  school  lands  would  un- 
doubtedly have  operated  in  their  favor;  and,  so  far  as  these 
lands  were  owned  and  possessed  by  citizens  of  this  State, 
these  appropriations  inured  to  their  benefit.  These  grants 
being  made  for  the  use  of  those  districts,  the  proprietors,  who- 
ever they  were,  undoubtedly  received  the  benefit  of  those 
donations ;  and  at  the  time  these  grants  were  made,  which 
was  March  3,  1803,  not  more  than  one-tenth  of  the  Connecti- 
cut Reserve,  and  less  than  one-third  of  the  Virginia  Military 
District,  were  owned  by  citizens  of  this  State.  So  far  as  the 
grant  of  school  lands  for  the  use  of  the  Virginia  Military 
District  operated  to  enhance  the  value  of  lands  within  that 
district,  and  thereby  induce  the  holders  of  warrants  to  locatQ 
them  within  this  State  rather  than  in  Kentucky,  its  operation 
was  beneficial  to  that  State,  by  leaving  within  her  limits  a 
greater  quantity  of  unappropriated  lands,  subject  to  the  con- 
trol and  disposal  of  her  Legislature. 

*'  From  this  view  of  the  subject,  it  manifestly  appears  that 
the  citizens  of  Ohio  have  actually  paid  for  all  appropriations 
of  school  lands  made  in  their  favor,  with  the  exception,  per- 
haps, of  a  small  proportion  of  the  amount  granted  for  the 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

benefit  of  the  Connecticut  Keserve  and  the  Virginia  Military 
District. 

'•In  this  statement,  we  have  not  adverted  to  the  equivalent 
which  Ohio,  as  a  State,  has  paid  to  the  United  States,  by 
exempting  from  taxation  lands  sold  by  them  five  years  after 
the  sale ;  the  benefit  of  which  exemption  has  accrued  directly 
to  the  United  States,  by  its  obvious  effect  on  the  price  of  pub- 
lic lands.  This  exemption,  as  the  Governor  in  his  message 
has  conclusively  shown,  is  a  treble  remuneration  for  the  three 
per  cent  fund,  and  all  other  grants  made  by  the  United  States 
in  our  favor.  It  is  perhaps  unnecessary  here  to  call  in  ques- 
tion the  authority  of  the  convention  (who  were  elected  for  the 
sole  purpose  of  forming  a  constitution  for  this  State,  if  they 
deemed  it  expedient,  and  of  accepting  or  rejecting  certain 
propositions  previously  made  by  Congress)  to  submit  to  Con- 
gress other  propositions  of  a  different  nature.  For,  though 
we  believe  those  propositions  resulted  from  a  mistaken  policy, 
"we  are  not  disposed,  after  so  long  an  acquiescence,  to  dispute 
their  obligation  or  complain  of  their  hardship.  But  we  may 
well  protest  against  being  still  considered  debtors,  when  we 
have  paid  a  threefold  price  for  all  appropriations  made  by 
Congress  for  our  benefit. 

"But  there  is  another  view  of  this  subject  to  which  your 
committee  beg  leave  to  call  the  attention  of  the  Senate.  The 
claims  set  up  in  the  Maryland  report  seem  in  some  measure 
to  rest  on  the  following  propositions :  '  That  before  the  war 
of  the  revolution,  and  indeed  for  some  years  after  it,  several 
of  the  States  possessed  within  their  nominal  limits  extensive 
tracts  of  waste  and  uncultivated  lands :'  That  '  these  States 
were  all  at  that  epoch  regal  and  not  proprietary  provinces ; 
that  the  crown  claimed  the  right,  and  was  either  directly  or 
indirectly  in  the  habit  of  granting  those  lands:'  That  this 
claim  was  at  least  tacitly  acceded  to  by  the  colonies ;  and 
*  that  these  lands  might  therefore  with  strict  propriety  be 
called  .the  property  of  the  crown :'  That  '  the  property  and 
jurisdiction  of  the  soil'  of  these  vacant  lands  '  were  acquired 
by  the  common  sword,  purse  and  blood  of  all  the  States, 
united  in  one  common  efibrt:  That  Great  Britain,  at  the  close 
of  the  war,  '  surrendered  her  right  of  property  and  jurisdic- 
tion to  the  United  States  collectively :'  That  therefore  these 
lands  ought  justly  to  be  considered  as  the  common  property  of 
the  Union.  Admitting  these  propositions  to  be  correct,  it 
seems   to   your  committee   conclusively  to   follow,  that  this 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

claim  extends  equally  to  all  the  vacant  and  unsettled  lauds 
within  the  United  States  at  the  close  of  the  revolutionary 
war,  as  well  to  those  within  the  present  limits  of  the  original 
States  as  to  those  without  or  beyond  those  limits.  Your  com- 
mittee do  not  here  take  into  view  the  lands  purchased  of 
France  or  Spain,  because  we  conceive  they  do  not  necessarily 
affect  the  question  about  to  be  discussed,  nor  the  right  acquired 
by  the  United  States,  in  consequence  of  acts  of  cession  made 
by  individual  States,  which  will  be  a  subject  for  subsequent 
consideration. 

''In  order  to  a  better  understanding  of  the  questions  in- 
volved in  the  subject  under  consideration,  it  may  be  impor- 
tant to  notice  briefly  some  historical  facts. 

''At  the  commencement  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  the 
original  States,  then  colonies  of  Great  Britain,  claimed  their 
political  existence,  and  their  jurisdiction  over  the  territory  in- 
cluded within  certain  limits,  by  virtue  of  grants  or  charters 
derived  from  the  crown.  Some  of  the  colonies,  at  that  epoch, 
included  within  their*chartered  limits  large  tracts  of  vacant 
and  unappropriated  lands;  of  this  number  were  Massachu- 
setts, Connecticut,  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  North 
and  South  Carolinas,  and  Georgia.  The  territorial  claims  of 
these  colonies,  under  their  respective  charters,  were,  in  many 
instances,  conflicting  with  each  other;  two  or  more  of  the 
colonies  frequently  claiming  the  same  tract  of  country  as  com- 
ing within  the  limits  of  their  charters.  These  charters  were 
moreover  extremely  uncertain,  their  boundaries  being  so  in- 
accurately and  vaguely  delineated,  and  founded  on  geographi- 
cal information  so  erroneous  that  no  person  can  now  presume 
to  attach  to  their  descriptions  any  definite  meaning.  But  a 
circumstance  still  more  remarkable,  and  which  would  go  far 
to  render  any  claim  founded  on  those  charters  at  least  doubt- 
ful, is  that  those  charters,  with  the  exception,  perhaps,  of 
those  of  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  and  Pennsylvania,  were 
surrendered  or  vacated,  revoked  or  merged  in  the  crown  long 
before  the  Revolutionary  War.  The  colonies,  or  States,  of . 
New  Hampshire,  Rhode  Island,  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  and 
Maryland  included,  within  the  limits  of  their  respective 
charters,  at  the  period  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  compara- 
tively small  tracts  of  vacant  lands,  and  some  of  them,  per- 
haps, included  none. 

"  Soon  after  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  these  claims 
of  some  of  the  States  to  the  large  tracts  of  waste  and  un- 

44 


Alfred  Kelley ;  Ms  Life  and  Work. 

settled  lands  which  fell  within  their  assumed  limits  seem  to 
have  formed  a  ground  of  complaiut  and  dissatisfaction,  on 
the  part  of  those  States  whose  territorial  limits  did  not  in- 
clude an  equal  proportion  of  those  vacant  lands.  While  the 
latter  States  looked  with  apprehension  and  jealousy  on  the 
preponderance  which  the  former  States  would  derive  from  the 
immense  increase  of  wealth  and  population  incident  to  a 
widely  extended  territory,  they  viewed  these  extensive  tracts 
of  unappropriated  lands  as  a  common  fund,  acquired  by  the 
joint  exertions  and  sacrifices  of  the  whole  conlfederacy,  and 
which  justice  demanded  should  inure  to  the  equal  benefit  of 
all  the  States.  Congress,  actuated  by  the  same  views,  to  use 
the  language  adopted  in  the  preamble  of  an  act  of  cession  of 
North  Carolina,  '  repeatedly  and  earnestly  recommended  to 
the  respective  States  in  the  Union,  owning  vacant  western 
territory,  to  make  cessions  of  part  of  the  same.' 

**In  conformity  with  these  repeated  recommendations  of 
Congress,  and  influenced,  no  doubt,  by  a  sense  of  justice  and 
spirit  of  conciliation  peculiar  to  those  days,  the  States  claim- 
ing the  most  extensive  tracts  of  vacant  lauds  did,  at  various 
times,  make  cessions  to  the  United  States  of  such  part  of 
those  lands  as  were  not  included  within  their  present  limits, 
with  some  important  exceptions,  and  subject  to  various  limi- 
tations and  conditions. 

"  The  States  making  these  cessions  in  all  cases  reserved  to 
themselves  the  ownership  of  all  unappropriated  lands  within 
their  present  respective  limits,  subject  in  some  instances  to 
the  unsettled  claims  of  other  individual  States. 

*'  Massachusetts  moreover  reserved  to  herself  the  ownership 
of  all  the  unsettled  territory  included  within  the  limits  of 
the  district  now  forming  the  State  of  Maine,  and  the  owner- 
ship of  soil  of  a  large  tract  of  country  within  the  limits  of 
New  York.  Connecticut  also  reserved  the  ownership  of  a 
tract  of  country  bordering  on  the  south  shore  of  Lake  Erie, 
and  which  is  more  than  equal  in  extent  to  the  whole  State 
of  Connecticut.  Virginia  reserved  the  jurisdiction  and 
ownership  of  soil  of  all  that  territory  which  now  forms  the 
State  of  Kentucky,  and  the  ownership  of  the  whole  country 
between  the  Little  Miami  and  Scioto  rivers  in  Ohio,  or  so 
much  thereof  as  might  be  sufficient  to  satisfy  grants  made  to 
her  citizens  for  revolutionary  services.  North  Carolina  re- 
served within  the  territory  ceded  by  her  the  ownership  of 
soil  of  so  much  thereof  as  might  be  necessary  to  satisfy  grants 

45 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

made  to  her  citizens  of  a  similar  nature  to  those  made  by  Vir- 
ginia. And  Georgia  required,  as  a  condition  of  ceding  her 
claim  to  the  territory  Avest  of  her  present  limits,  the  payment 
of  1,250  dollars  out  of  the  avails  of  the  first  sales"  of  lands 
ceded,  and  that  the  United  States  should  extinguish  the  In- 
dian title  to  an  immense  tract  of  country  within  the  present 
limits  of  that  State  ;  and,  moreover,  make  an  appropriation 
of  part  of  the  lands  so  ceded  for  the  purpose  of  satisfying  and 
quieting  certain  claims  of  individuals  derived  from  the  State 
of  Georgia  to  part  of  said  lands.  Conditions  relating  to  the 
disposition  of  tiie  territories  ceded,  and  the  rights  of  the  people 
inhabiting,  and  the  States  to  be  formed  within  those  terri- 
tories, were  also  attached  to  the  acts  of  cession  of  Virginia 
and  the  other  States  making  the  largest  cessions;  some  of 
which  conditions  we  shall  have  occasion  hereafter  to  notice. 

"Thus  we  see,  that  the  States  of  Massachusetts,  Connecti- 
cut, New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  and 
Georgia,  have  claimed  and  been  permitted  to  retain,  and  ap- 
propriate for  their  sole  benefit,  immense  tracts  of  vacant 
lands,  which,  to  use  the  language  of  the  Maryland  report, 
'  were  acquired  by  the  common  sword,  purse,  and  blood  of  all 
the  states,  united  in  a  common  effort,'  while  those  States 
whose  limits  included  little  or  no  unappropriated  territory, 
have  been  deprived  of  an  equal  participation  in  the  benefits 
resulting  from  their  united  efforts. 

"  Justice,  on  the  contrary,  would  have  required  that  all  the 
waste  and  unsettled  lands  within  the  United  States  at  the  date 
of  our  National  Independence,  as  well  as  those  within  the 
present  limits  of  the  original  States  as  beyond  those  limits, 
should  have  been  considered  as  the  common  property  of  the 
American  people  ;  for  all  were  alike  acquired,  by  the  com- 
mon exertions  and  sacrifices  of  the  whole  nation,  and  no  indi- 
vidual or  community  could  justly  have  claimed  a  greater 
share  or  proportion  than  what  had  been  actually  purchased 
and  reduced  to  possession. 

"The  people  of  the  United  States,  at  that  period,  may, 
with  respect  to  this  question,  be  considered  as  one  great  com- 
munity, having  equal  rights  and  privileges,  f^nd  entitled  to 
share  equally  in  the  benefits,  as  well  as  the  hardships  and  suf- 
ferings, resulting  from  the  contest  in  which  the-y  were  en- 
gaged. As  the  provinces  '  were  regal,  and  not  proprietary,' 
in  other  words,  as  they  had  no  just  claim  to  the  ownership  of 
the  vacant  lands  within  their  limits,  it  would  seem  to  follow 

46 


Alfred  Kelhy ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

that  the  citizens  of  one  Stale  could  have  no  better  claims  to  un- 
appropriated lands  than  citizens  of  another.  For  it  will  not 
be  contended  that  the  people  of  those  States  which  included 
within  their  nominal  limits  vacant  lands  bore  a  greater  share 
in  'the  heat  and  burden  of  the  day,' in  proportion  to  their 
numbers,  than  the  people  of  those  States  whose  boundaries  in- 
cluded no  such  lands. 

"  Notwithstanding  the  inequality  and  injustice  of  a  con- 
trary doctrine,  and  notwithstanding  the  indefinite  and  conflict- 
ing nature  of  the  tenures  under  which  they  held,  many  of  the 
States  claimed,  not  only  the  waste  and  unappropriated  lands 
within  their  present  limits,  but  also  large  tracts  of  vacant 
lands  beyond  those  limits.  These  claims,  as  we  have  seen, 
were  derived  from  royal  charters,  most  of  w^hich  had  been 
long  before  revoked,  surrendered,  or  merged  in  the  crown. 
But,  at  this  day,  and  in  this  country,  we  may  be  permitted  to 
question  the  original  rights  of  the  crown  of  Great  Britain  to 
the  immense  regions  which  now  form  the  American  republic, 
which,  at  the  time  these  grants  were  made,  were  inhabited  by 
independent  nations,  whose  country  had  never  been  traversed, 
and  whose  very  names  were  unknown  to  kings  who  so  liber- 
ally bestowed  what  they  never  possessed.  And  for  free  and 
independent  States  to  build  their  claims  on  the  grants  of 
sovereigns  wdiose  rights  they  deny  and  whose  authority  they 
disclaim,  requires  a  course  of  subtle  reasoning  which  it  is 
difficult  to  comprehend.  But  to  found  those  claims  on 
charters  which  have  long  since  been  surrendered  or  revoked, 
appears  still  more  preposterous. 

''Admitting  that  the  people  of  several  colonies,  at  the  mo- 
ment of  dissolving  their  connection  with  Great  Britain, 
formed  themselves  into  sovereign,  independent  communities 
or  States,  it  is  difficult  to  ascertain  by  what  right  they  as- 
sumed to  themselves  boundaries  beyond  the  limits  of  the  ter- 
ritory actually  possessed  or  occupied  by  the  people  of  each 
State,  or  by  what  authority  they  claimed  the  owmership  of  the 
soil  within  those  assumed  limits,  which  was  still  waste  and  un- 
occupied, except  by  the  natives.  Should  it  be  said  that  they 
had  a  natural  right  to  assume  to  themselves  such  limits  as 
their  own  moderation  or  their  ambition  might  dictate,  or  that 
they  still  leaned  on  the  broken  reed  of  royal  authority,  to  de- 
fine their  limits,  and  sliould  it  be  asserted  that  the  ownership 
of  the  soil  within  whose  limits,  or  the  pre-emption  right 
thereto,  is  an  inherent  right,  a  necessary  appendage  of  their 

47 


Alfred  Kelley  ;  Ms  Life  and  Work, 

sovereign  characters  (and  we  can  conceive  of  no  other  source, 
from  whence  those  claims  of  the  original  States  can  be  derived), 
it  then  follows  that  the  same  inherent  rights  and  appendages 
of  sovereignty  appertain  to  the  States  since  formed,  and  which 
are  equally  sovereign  and  independent.  For  conceding  the 
proposition,  that  it  is  incompatible  with  the  character  of  a 
sovereign  State  that  other  States  should  hold  lands  within  its 
limits  without  its  consent,  and  this  doctrine  is  distinctly  rec- 
ognized by  admitting  that  the  crown  of  Great  Britain  owned, 
and  had  the  right  of  making  grants  of  vacant  lands,  within 
her  American  colonies,  or  by  admitting  that  such  of  the  orig- 
inal States  as  included  within  their  boundaries  vacant  lands, 
held  those  lands  at  the  time  of  becoming  independent,  as  a 
necessary  prerogative  of  sovereignty ;  the  conclusion  from 
these  premises,  that  the  new  States  have  an  indisputable  claim 
to  all  the  unappropriated  lands  within  their  respective  limits 
appears  to  us  unavoidable,  unless  it  be  denied  that  they  are 
equally  sovereign  and  independent. 

"The  principles  here  advanced  have  been  successfully  as- 
serted by  the  States  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  in  the  con- 
troversies between  those  States  and  the  States  from  whose 
territories  they  were  formed,  relative  to  the  ownership  of  va- 
cant lands  within  the  limits  of  those  newly  formed  States. 
The  same  principle  has  been  recognized  by  the  United  States 
in  an  arrangement  made  between  the  United  States  and  Ten- 
nessee relative  to  vacant  lands  in  the  latter  State. 

"Again,  if  it  be  conceded  that  the  original  States  which 
have  made  cession  of  extensive  territories  to  the  United 
States  had  a  just  claim  to  the  lands  or  territories  so  ceded, 
which  fact  is  tacitly  admitted  on  the  part  of  the  United  States 
by  requesting  and  accepting  those  cessions,  it  follows  that 
those  States  had  an  undoubted  right  to  attach  to  their  several 
acts  of  cession  such  conditions  as  they  deemed  proper.  Con- 
ditions were  accordingly  attached  to  the  act  of  Virginia 
ceding  to  the  United  States  the  territory  north-west  of  the 
river  Ohio,  and  which  now  composes  the  States  of  Ohio,  In- 
diana, Illinois,  and  the  North-western  and  Michigan  Terri- 
tories ;  one  of  which  conditions,  to  use  the  words  of  the  act 
of  Virginia  of  1783,  after  describing  in  what  manner  States 
were  to  be  formed  within  the  ceded  territory,  provides  *  tJmt 
the  States  so  formed  shall  be  disthict  republican  States,  and  ad- 
mitted as  members  of  the  Federal  Union,  having  the  same  rights  of 
sovereignty  J  freedom,  and  independence  as  the  oilier  States;'  another 

48 


Alfred  KelT^y ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

of  which  conditions,  in  the  words  of  an  act  of  the  same  State, 
of  1788,  reciting  the  fifth  article  of  the  ordinance  of  Con- 
gress, of  1787,  provides  that,  ''ivhenever  any  of  the  said  States 
shall  have  sixty  thousand  free  inhabitants  therein,  such  State  shall 
be  admitted  by  its  delegates  into  the  Congress  of  the  United  States, 
on  an  equal  footing  tvith  the  original  States,  in  all  respects  what- 
ever, and  shall  be  at  liberty  to  form  a  permanent  constitution  and 
state  government.'     Similar  conditions  were  affixed  to  the  acts 
of  cession  of  North  Carolina  and  Georgia.     It  would  be  diffi- 
cult to  find  words  more  definite  or  significant  in  their  import, 
or  expressions   which   would  guarantee  to  the  new  States  a 
more   complete   equality  with   the   old,  than   those  used  or 
adopted  in  the  acts  of  cession   to  which   we  have  referred. 
We  may  then  well  question  the  authority  of  Congress  to  im- 
pose on  the   people  of  those  States,  so  to  he  formed,  as  condi- 
tions of  their  assuming  the  character  of  distinct  independent 
States,  any  terms  which  would   circumscribe   their  rights  of 
sovereignty  within  narrower  limits  than  those  enjoyed  by  the 
original  States.     For  we  can  not  admit  that  the  privileges  se- 
cured to  the  States  to  be  formed  out  of  the  territory  ceded  by 
the  conditions  above  recited  were  abridged  by  that  provision 
in  the  act  of  cession  of  1783,  which  provides  for  the  disposi- 
tion of  the  lands  ceded,  and  is  in  these  words  :  '  That  all  the 
lands  within  the  territory  so  ceded  to  the  United  States  (ex- 
cept as  therein  excepted)  shall  be  considered  as  a  common 
fund  for  the  use  and  benefit  of  such  of  the  United  States  as 
have  become  or  shall  hereafter  become  members  of  the  con- 
federation or  federal  alliance  of  the  States,  Virginia  inclusive, 
according  to  their  usual  respective  proportions  in  the  general 
charge  and  expenditure;  and  shall  be  faithfully  and  bona  fide 
disposed  of  for  that  purpose,  and  for  no  other  use  or  purpose 
whatsoever.'     This  provision,  as  we  conceive,  can  only  relate 
to  any  disposition  which  the  United  States  might  make  of 
the  lands  within  the  territory  ceded,  before  the  States  to  be 
formed  within   that  territory  should  assume  the  character  of 
sovereign  States,  or  to  such  disposition  as  the  States  so  to  be 
formed    might,  by  fair  and  voluntary  compact,  permit   the 
United  States  to  make  of  the  vacant  lands  within  their  re- 
spective limits.     A  different  construction  would  be  incompat- 
ible with  that  fundamental  provision  of  the  same  act  of  ces- 
sion which  provides  that  *  the  States  so  formed  shall  have  the 
same  rights  of  freedom,  sovereignty,  and  independence  as  the 
other  States/  one  of  which  rights  of  sovereignty,  claimed  and 

4  49 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work, 

exercised  by  Virginia  herself,  was  the  ownership  of  all  the 
vacant  lands  within  their  respective  limits.  Such  a  construc- 
tion would  also  be  inconsistent  with  that  enlightened  and  lib- 
eral policy  which  governed  the  State  of  Virginia,  in  extend- 
ing to  Kentucky  equal  privileges,  in  respect  to  the  vacant 
lands  remaining  at  the  time  of  their  separation,  with  those 
which  she  herself  enjoyed.  Nor  can  it  be  supposed  that  Vir- 
ginia would  willingly  permit  the  United  States  to  exact  from 
the  States  to  be  formed  out  of  the  territory  ceded  by  her  more 
rigorous  terms  than  those  required  by  her  of  Kentucky.  But 
this  provision  of  the  act  of  cession  of  Virginia  can,  by  no 
possibility,  be  so  construed  as  to  take  from  the  States  to  be 
formed  out  of  the  ceded  territory  the  right  of  taxing  the 
lands  of  the  United  States  within  their  jurisdiction. 

"  It  may  be  contended  that  the  States  formed  out  of  the 
national  territory  have,  by  solemn  and  express  ordinance,  or 
compact  with  the  United  States,  agreed  to  relinquish  all 
claims  to  the  ownership  of  the  soil,  and  the  right  of  taxing 
the  lands  of  the  United  States,  within  their  respective  limits. 
How  far  this  assertion  may  be  true,  as  it  relates  to  the  other 
States  formed  out  of  the  territories  ceded  to  the  United  States, 
your  committee  are  not  prepared  to  determine;  but  after  a 
diligent  search,  we  are  able  to  find  no  such  compact  on  the 
part  of  Ohio.  The  convention  which  formed  our  constitution, 
it  is  true,  agreed,  upon  Congress  acceding  to  certain  modifica- 
tions of  the  terms  which  had  been  previously  proposed  by 
Congress,  for  the  free  acceptance  or  rejection  of  the  conven- 
tion, to  relinquish,  in  behalf  of  the  State,  the  right  to  tax 
lands  which  might  be  sold  by  the  United  States  for  five  years 
after  they  were  sold.  But  admitting  that  the  convention, 
who  ^^ere  elected  to  accept  or  reject  certain  propositions  and 
not  to  propose  other  terms  or  modifications,  had  the  power  of 
binding  the  people  of  the  State  of  Ohio  by  that  agreement  or 
ordinance,  still  this  act  goes  no  further  than  to  relinquish  the 
right  of  taxing  the  lands  sold  by  the  United  States  for  five 
years  after  the  sales.  The  ordinance  of  Congress  of  1787,  we 
acknowledge,  provides  that  the  Legislatures  of  those  districts 
or  new  States  therein  described  'shall  never  interfere  with  the 
primary  disposal  of  the  soil  by  the  United  States,'  etc.,  and 
'  shall  impose  no  tax  on  lands  the  property  of  the  United 
States.'  Part  of  this  ordinance  purports  to  be  'Articles  of 
compact  between  the  United  States  and  people  of  the  North- 
western Territory,  and  the  States  to  be  formed  therein.'     But 

50 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

how  a  compact,  which  is,  in  other  words,  an  agreement,  and 
which  necessarily  supposes  at  least  two  contracting  parties, 
whose  assent  is  in  all  cases  necessary  to  its  validity,  can  be 
made  by  the  sole  act  of  one  party,  we  can  not  comprehend  ; 
and  we  presume  it  will  never  be  contended,  that  either  the 
people  of  the  territory  which  now  forms  the  State  of  Ohio,  or 
the  State  itself,  has  ever  expressly  assented  to  those  provisions 
of  the  ordinance  of  1787.  Nor  do  we  admit  that  Congress 
had  authority  to  pass  an  ordinance  containing  the  provisions 
above  recited  and  thereby  abridge  the  sovereignty  of  the  peo- 
ple, after  they  should  have  formed  themselves  into  States. 
The  enactment  of  this  ordinance  necessarily  supposes,  that  the 
States  to  be  formed  within  the  North-western  Territory,  if 
'  admitted  on  an  equal  footing  with  the  original  States,'  and 
*  having  the  same  rights  of  sovereignty,  freedom  and  inde- 
pendence,' would  have  the  '  right  to  interfere  with  the  primary 
disposal  of  the  soil ;'  in  other  words,  might  claim  the  owner- 
ship of  the  soil,  and  would  also  have  the  '  right  to  tax  lands 
the  property  of  ihe  United  States ;'  else  where  the  necessity 
of  passing  such  an  ordinance  ?  If  the  ordinance  in  questi(m 
had  the  effect  to  circumscribe  the  *  rights  of  sovereignty'  of  the 
States  to  be  formed  within  the  territory  north-west  of  Ohio 
within  narrower  limits  than  those  enjoyed  by  the  original 
States,  its  provisions,  as  we  c^nceive,  were  not  only  impolitic 
and  unjust,  but  were  inconsistent  with  the  fundamental  con- 
ditions contained  in  the  act  of  cession  of  Virginia,  and  there- 
fore in  no  way  obligatory. 

"Should  it  be  said  that  the  people  now  inhabiting  the 
States  formed  within  th^  territory  ceded  by  Virginia  emigrated 
to  this  territory,  and  settled  within  its  limits,  under  the  ordi- 
nance of  Congress,  with  the  provisions  of  which  they  were 
presumed  to  have  been  acquainted,  and  that  they  have  there- 
fore agreed  to  the  compact  therein  set  forth  and  declared,  this 
inference  is  avoided  by  replying  that  the  people  may  with 
equal  truth  be  presumed  to  have  been  apprised  of  the  rights 
guaranteed  to  them  by  the  act  of  cession  of  Virginia,  and  by 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  the  latter  of  which  pro- 
vides, 'that  nothing  in  this  Constitution  shall  be  so  construed 
as  to  prejudice  the  claims  of  the  United  States,  or  of  any  of 
the  individual  States,'  thereby  leaving  all  controversies  relative 
to  conflicting  claims  to  be  settled  by  the  same  rules  of  decision 
which  had  governed  questions  of  a  similar  nature  between  the 
original  States  or  between  any  State  and  the  United  States. 

51 


Alfred  Kelley ,  his  Life  and  Work. 

By  no  clause  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  have 
the  individual  States  surrendered  the  sovereign  prerogative  of 
claiming  all  unappropriated  lands  within  their  limits;  this 
right  therefore  appertains  to  them  now,  if  they  ever  enjoyed 
it,  and  appertains  to  all  the  States  alike,  if  all  are  equally 
independent. 

"However  these  questions,  which  it  may  be  said  are 
strictly  questions  of  right,  may  be  determined,  we  conceive 
their  decision  can  in  no  wise  affect  any  equitable  claim  which 
the  new  States  may  have  to  an  equal  participation  in  the  bene- 
fits accruing  from  the  vacant  or  unappropriated  lands,  the 
joint  property  of  the  people  of  the  United  States.  These  new 
States  are  now  members  of  the  same  confederacy  whose  bonds 
of  union  and  mutual  benefit  embrace  their  older  sisters.  They 
do  stand,  or  ought  to  stand,  on  the  same  footing  with  the 
original  States ;  they  are,  or  ought  to  be,  equally  free,  sover- 
eign and  independent;  and,  as  such,  entitled  to  all  the  at- 
tributes and  appendages  of  sovereignty  which  the  old  States 
are  permitted  to  enjoy. 

"  The  citizens  of  the  new  States  are  members  of  the  same 
great  community  which  includes  the  citizens  of  the  old,  and 
as  such  are  justly  entitled  to  an  equal  participation  in  all  the 
benefits  resulting  from  the  confederation  and  which  grow  out 
of  a  community  of  interest.  To  deny  this  would  be  to  create 
an  invidious  distinction,  equally  impolitic  and  unjust;  a  dis- 
tinction calculated  to  foment  sectional  jealousies ;  to  produce 
discontent  and  animosity  among  the  several  States  ;  and  finally 
to  dissolve  the  ties  of  mutual  interest  and  regard  which  bind 
us  together  as  a  nation. 

"  Let  us  then  recur  to  the  facts  connected  with  this  view 
of  the  subject.  We  have  already  seen  that  the  States  of 
Massachusetts — including  Maine,  Connecticut,  New  York, 
Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  and  Georgia — have 
retained  large  tracts  of  vacant  lands,  after  the  cession  made 
by  them  to  the  United  States,  which  lands,  as  well  as  those 
ceded,  justice  requires  should  be  considered  as  common  prop- 
erty of  the  Union.  From  these  lands  have  been  derived 
funds  sufficient  for  the  entire  support  of  schools,  where  they 
have  been  judiciously  managed,  and  appropriated  to  that 
purpose.  They  have,  moreover,  been  sufficient  in  some  of 
the  States  to  provide  in  some  measure  for  the  ordinary  ex- 
penses of  their  government,  thereby  partially  relieving  their 
citizens  from  taxation.     We  admit  that  the  States  of  New 

52 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

Hampshire,  Rhode  Island,  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  Maryland, 
and  perhaps  South  Carolina,  have  not  been  admitted  to  an 
equal  participation  in  those  lands,  which  justice  requires  should 
be  considered  the  common  property  of  the  Union.  But  their 
having  received  less  than  they  were  entitled  by  justice  to 
demand  by  no  means  proves  that  the  new  States  have  received 
more.  The  original  States,  including  also  Kentucky,  have  in 
the  aggregate  participated  in  those  lands  to  a  much  larger  ex- 
tent than  the  States  which  have  been  formed  within  the  ter- 
ritories ceded  to  the  United  States.  Your  committtee  have 
not  been  able  to  obtain  the  requisite  information  to  enable 
them  to  form  an  accurate  estimate  of  the  amount  of  vacant 
lands  which  were,  at  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  in- 
cluded within  the  present  limits  of  the  original  States  ;  and 
which  have  been  appropriated  by  those  States  solely  to  their 
own  benefit.  The  probable  aggregate  amount,  however,  ex- 
ceeds one-third  of  the  whole  amount  of  territory  comprised 
within  the  limits  of  those  States.  On  the  other  hand,  the  ap- 
propriations made  in  favor  of  the  States  in  which  appropria- 
tions of  school  lands  have  been  made,  even  admitting 
those  school  lands  were  gratuitous  donations,  amount  to 
only  one-thirtieth  part  of  the  lands  contained  within  their  re- 
spective limits.  Thus  it  appears  that  those  States  which  in 
the  Maryland  report  are  termed  '  favored  States '  have  in  the 
aggregate  received  of  tlie  public  funds  only  one-tenth  part  of 
the  amount  to  which,  upon  principles  of  equal  justice  they 
are  entitled.  Where  then,  we  may  demand,  are  the  ex- 
clusive privileges  which  have  been  extended  to  the  new 
States  (Kentucky  excepted),  and  upon  which  the  claims  of 
the  original  States  to  an  appropriation  of  public  lands  in  their 
favor,  are  founded?  While  many  of  the  old  States  have  de- 
rived from  their  vacant  lauds  immense  funds  to  aid  in  the 
promotion  of  learning,  in  the  prosecution  of  plans  of  internal 
improvement,  and  in  defraying  the  expenses  of  their  govern- 
ments, and  while  all  have  reaped  the  benefit  of  their  soil  being 
owned  by  their  own  citizens,  and  being  subject  to  contribute 
to  the  expenses  of  their  governments,  the  new  States  (Ken- 
tucky and  Tennessee  excepted)  have  not  been  permitted  to 
own  one  foot  of  the  soil,  within  their  jurisdiction,  they  have 
been  compelled  in  their  infancy  to  support  their  governments, 
and  make  necessary  improvements,  solely  by  levying  taxes  on 
their  citizens,  and  have  even  been  denied  the  right  of  taxing 
the  lands  within  their  limits.     Admitting  the  right,  we  can 

53 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

not  see  the  policy  of  thus  denying  to  the  new  States  a  par- 
ticipation in  the  advantages  which  the  old  States  are  permitted 
to  enjoy. 

"It  may  be  said  that  the  new  States  had  no  political 
existence  at  the  period  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  that  they 
bore  no  part  in  the  expenses  or  dangers  of  that  struggle  which 
terminated  in  our  national  independence,  and  are  therefore 
entitled  to  no  participation  in  the  vacant  lands  which  were 
acquired  by  the  joint  exertions  of  the  original  States.  To 
consider  the  question  fairly,  it  is  necessary  to  lay  out  of  view 
for  a  moment  those  imaginary  political  beings  the  individual 
States,  and  consider  the  whole  American  people  as  one  great 
community,  by  whose  united  exertions  our  national  independ- 
ence and  all  other  benefits  resulting  from  the  contest  in  which 
they  were  engaged  were  acquired.  If  this  view  of  the  subject  be 
correct,  it  follows  as  a  fair  inference  from  these  premises,  that 
each  individual  of  that  community  was  justly  entitled  to  an 
equal  participation  in  that  independence  and  all  other  benefits 
and  privileges  acquired  by  their  common  efforts.  We  would 
then  ask  whether  the  citizens  of  the  new  States  were  not  at  that 
time,  and  whether  they  are  not  still,  members  of  that  com- 
munity? Did  not  they  or  their  fathers  bear  an  equal  share 
in  the  sacrifices,  sufferings,  and  exertions  of  that  day ;  did 
they  not  fight  as  bravely,  bleed  as  freely,  and  open  their 
purses  as  generously  as  did  their  fellow-citizens  who  have  re- 
mained within  the  limits  of  the  States  which  gave  them 
birth  ?  And  have  they  not  ever  since  been  as  ready  to  step 
forward  in  defending  the  rights  and  avenging  the  wrongs  of 
our  common  country?  Are  they  not  liable  to  contribute  in 
an  equal  proportion  to  the  reduction  of  the  national  debt  and 
all  other  burdens  which  the  nation  may  be  subject  to  bear? 
Where  then  is  the  justice,  where  is  the  policy,  of  withholdin 
from  the  citizens  of  the  new  States  the  equal  enjoyment  of  al 
the  advantages  which  were  derived  from  the  common  efforts 
of  all  ?  Or  have  they  lost  their  birthrights,  and  become  dis- 
franchised, by  emigration  to  the  new  States  and  submitting  to 
the  hardships  and  privations  of  a  new  country  ?  And  let  it 
be  remembered  that  the  citizens  of  the  new  States  are  not 
colonies  of  foreigners  who  have  no  right  to  claim  the  privi- 
leges of  American  citizens. 

"Upon  principles  of  equality,  justice,  and  sound  policy,  the 
new  States  may  then  demand  that  all  the  vacant  lands  within 
the  limits  of  the  United  States  at  the  close  of  the  Revolutiou- 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

ary  War  should  be  considered  as  the  common  property  of  the 
nation,  in  which  every  State  has  an  equal  right  to  participate; 
with  strict  propriety  might  they  say,  '  Let  our  elder  sisters, 
who  have  already  received  such  enormous  doweries,  bring 
them  into  common  stock;  let  their  vacant  lands  be  estimated; 
let  the  new  States,  as  well  as  the  old  who  have  received  no 
part  of  these  lands,  come  in  for  their  proportionate  share  ;  and 
w'e  will  agree  to  an  equal  distribution  of  this  public  land,  to 
any  extent  which  sound  policy  may  dictate.' 

''The  committee  of  the  Senate  of  Maryland  have  skillfully 
kept  out  of  view  the  vast  tracts  of  waste  and  unsettled  lauds 
which  fell  within  the  present  limits  of  the  original  States,  but 
which  upon  their  own  principles  ought  to  be  considered  as 
common  stock.  It  would  have  accorded  but  ill  with  the  view 
of  a  committee,  who  boast  of  having  secured  in  their  in- 
terest more  than  two-thirds  of  the  States,  and  a  still  greater 
proportion  of  their  representatives,  to  have  agitated  questions 
so  overwhelmingly  calculated  to  disunite  a  confederacy. 

"In  dissolving  the  political  c<mnection  which  existed  be- 
tween the  people  of  the  States  of  Massachusetts  and  Maine,  a 
fair  and  equitable  division  of  the  unappropriated  lands,  the 
common  property  of  both,  is  believed  to  have  taken  place. 
It  is  also  believed  that  Kentucky,  on  the  separation  from  Vir- 
ginia, retained  most,  if  not  all,  the  vacant  lands  within  her 
limits  which  had  been  previously  appropriated.  These  vacant 
lauds  will  afford  to  each  of  these  States  ample  funds  for  the 
promotion  of  literature  and  other  purposes;  while  the  States 
formed  from  the  national  territory  have  been  set  off  compara- 
tively portionless.  The  soil  of  the  latter  States  being  owned 
by  the  United  States,  or  by  non-resident  individuals  or  com- 
munities, occasions  a  continual  drain  of  money  from  these 
States,  and,  among  other  causes  incident  to  their  situation, 
tends  to  produce  that  extensive  embarrassment  which  per- 
vades their  financial  concerns,  notwithstanding  the  industry, 
enterprise,  and  frugality  of  their  citizens,  and  the  luxuriance 
of  the  soil  which  they  cultivate. 

"No  good  reason  can  be  assigned  why  the  United  States 
should  require  of  the  States  formed  within  their  territories 
more  rigorous  and  illiberal  terms,  as  conditions  of  their  as- 
suming the  character  of  sovereign  States,  thau  those  required 
by  Virginia  and  Massachusetts  of  the  States  formed  out  of 
their  territories.  We  believe  the  United  States  were  not  less 
able  to  be  generous,  and  sound  policy  would  surely  have  dic- 

55 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work, 

tated  a  course  not  calculated  to  create  invidious  distinctions, 
and  subject  some  of  the  members  of  our  confederation  to 
endless  embarrassments  from  which  others  are  perpetually 
exempted. 

''From  the  view  we  have  taken  of  this  interesting  subject, 
your  committee  conclude  that,  if  it  be  conceded  that  the  va- 
cant lauds  within  the  United  States,  at  the  close  of  the  Rev- 
olutionary War,  were  justly  the  property  of  the  American 
people,  considered  as  one  great  community,  the  claim  ex- 
tended equally  to  the  vacant  lands  within  the  present  limits 
of  the  original  States.  The  inference,  then,  is  irresistible  that 
the  new  States,  as  well  as  the  old,  being  members  of  the  same 
confederacy,  and  the  citizens  of  the  new  States,  as  well  as  of 
the  old,  being  members  of  the  same  community,  have  a  right 
to  participate  equally  in  the  whole  of  those  lands ;  and  jus- 
tice requires  that  the  whole  be  considered  as  a  common  fund 
for  that  purpose.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  it  be  admitted  that 
the  original  States  justly  claimed  and  held  all  the  vacant 
lands  within  their  respective  limits  as  a  right  incident  to  their 
charter  as  sovereign  States,  it  follows,  as  a  fair  deduction, 
that  the  new  States  have  tl  e  same  right  to  claim  and  hold 
all  the  vacant  lands  within  their  respective  limits,  unless  it 
be  denied  that  they  are  equally  sovereign  and  independent 
with  the  original  States,  a  denial  equally  inconsistent  with 
justice  and  sound  policy. 

"  AVe  should  not  have  anticipated  from  an  enlightened  and 
intelligent  committee,  who  demand  justice  of  the  new  States 
and  appeal  to  their  liberality,  an  intimation  of  the  superior 
power  of  the  States  which  have  not,  as  they  contended,  been 
admitted  to  an  equal  participation  in  the  public  funds  with 
those  States  which  they  term  '  favored.'  Nor  a  suggestion, 
'  that  if  they  are  true  to  their  own  interests  they  have  nothing 
to  fear.'  If  power  alone,  or  interests,  is  to  decide  the  ques- 
tion, where  the  necessity  of  appealing  to  argument?  and  why 
that  useless  display  of  subtle  reasoning,  for  which  that  com- 
mittee seem  to  have  put  in  requisition  the  whole  force  of  their 
superior  talents?  Should  the  States  attempted,  in  said  re- 
port, to  be  arrayed  in  support  of  the  claims  therein  set  up  be 
determined  to  enforce  those  claims,  by  numerical  superiority, 
the  new  States  must  submit,  however  unjust  or  ill-founded 
those  pretensions  may  be.  But,  did  we  not  disapprove  and 
deprecate  an  appeal  to  similar  motives  and  passions,  we  might 

56 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

possibly,  without  the  aid  of  inspiration,  point  with  a  prophetic 
finger  to  the  time  when  the  relative  numerical  strength  of  the 
parties  will  be  changed,  and  say,  'with  what  measure  you 
mete  unto  us,  with  the  same  shall  it  be  meted  unto  you.' 
We  would,  however,  fain  believe  that  the  force  of  truth  and 
equity,  though  wielded  by  only  'seventeen,'  will  be  found  suffi- 
cient to  contend  successfully  with  the  interested  claims  of  '  one 
hundred  and  sixty-nine,'  when  founded  in  error. 

"  The  Maryland  report,  while  it  professes  to  be  friendly  to 
the  advancement  of  intellectual  improvement  in  the  Western 
States,  expresses  a  jealous  apprehension  that  the  people  of 
those  States,  in  their  progress  to  literary  and  scientific  emi- 
nence, will  outstrip  the  people  of  the  Atlantic  States,  and 
thereby  obtain  an  undue  influence  in  the  councils  of  the  na- 
tion. We  can  not  forbet  r  expressing  our  surprise  that  an  in- 
telligent and  liberal  mind  should  entertain  fears  of  the  un- 
due influence  of  moral  or  scientific  improvement.  But  we 
do  not  hesitate  to  affirm  that  all  apprehensions  on  this  subject 
will  vanish  on  a  careful  investigation  of  the  relative  advan- 
tages enjoyed  by  the  Eastern  and  Western  States  in  this  re- 
spect. The  schools,  in  most  of  the  old  States,  are  liberally 
endowed,  or  supported,  by  funds  derived  from  royal  or  private 
grants  or  from  vacant  lands.  The  literary  institutions  in  the 
new  States  can  never  entertain  a  reasonable  hope  of  being 
thus  liberally  endowed  or  supported,  unless  those  States  can 
successfully  assert  their  claim  to  part,  at  least,  of  the  vacant 
lauds  within  their  respective  limits.  The  school  lands,  in 
these  States,  have,  as  yet,  been  very  unproductive  ;  and,  while 
the  Legislatures  of  the  States  in  which  they  are  situated  are 
restricted  by  the  conditions  attached  to  those  grants,  they 
must  ever  be  so.  Indeed,  it  may  well  be  doubted  whether 
more  money  has  not  been  spent  in  legislating  on  the  subject 
than  the  whole  amount  derived  from  those  lands. 

"  Your  committee  are  aware,  that  they  have  traveled  over 
ground,  and  attempted  to  investigate  questions  which  at  first 
view  may  not  seem  to  fall  within  the  province  expressly  as- 
signed them.  They  however  thought  it  necessary  in  order  to 
a  full  examination  of  the  questions  immediately  or  incident- 
ally involved  in  the  subject  under  consideration.  Since  the 
question  of  the  relative  rights  and  privileges  of  the  several 
States  has  been  agitated,  it  is  desirable  that  a  full  and  not  a 
partial  view  may  be  taken  of  the  whole  ground ;  and  though 
the  committee  have  spun  out  their  report  to  an  unusual  length, 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

they  are  sensible  that  they  have  left  many  arguments  in  favor 
of  their  theory  unnoticed. 

"  We  are  sensible  that  the  new  States  may  have  been  here- 
tofore considered  by  some,  and  perhaps  may  have  considered 
themselves,  as  minor  children,  who  ought  to  feel  no  other  senti- 
ment than  gratitude  for  their  political  existence,  and  who  have 
no  right  to  express  even  an  opinion  which  might  involve  even 
incidentally  the  correctness  of  any  claims  of  their  elder  sis- 
ters. It  may  howeyer  be  important  to  the  future  welfare  and 
prosperity  of  the  new  States  to  know  on  what  ground  they 
stand;  and  all  questions  which  are  calculated  to  create  jeal- 
ousy and  give  birth  to  conflicting  interests  among  the  several 
members  of  our  national  confederacy  can  not  too  soon  be  set- 
tled on  a  satisfactory  and  permanent  basis. 

"  Your  committee  have  endeavored  to  give  to  the  subject 
that  attentive  and  impartial  consideration  which  its  importance 
merits.  They  have,  in  the  course  of  its  investigation,  referred 
to  all  the  grants,  charters,  acts  of  cession,  ordinances  and 
other  public  documents,  within  their  reach,  calculated  to  throw 
light  on  the  subject  and  lead  to  a  correct  result;  and,  after  the 
most  mature  deliberation  which  time  and  circumstances  would 
permit,  they  with  much  deference  submit  the  foregoing  re- 
port, and  recommend  the  adoption  of  the  following  resolu- 
tions." 

The  resolutions  embody  the  principles  maintained  in 
the  report ;  and  one  of  them  requests  the  Governor  to 
send  a  copy  of  the  report  and  resolutions  to  *'  our  Sen- 
ators and  Representatives  in  Congress,"  and  to  each  of 
the  Governors  of  the  several  States  and  territories,  and 
that  they  be  laid  before  their  legislative  bodies. 

The  report  and  resolutions  were  adopted  by  both 
branches  of  the  Legislature  and  transmitted  as  re- 
quested.    After  that  time,  it  is  believed,  the  claim  was 

not  urged. 

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Alfred.  Kelley ;  Ms  Life  and  Work. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE     OHIO     CANAL. 

Mr.  Kelley  appointed  a  canal  commissioner. — His  report  on 
the  subject. — The  considerations  in  favor. — The  Ohio  market  in 
1822, — Mr.  Kelley  appointed  acting  commissioner. — Proceeds  to 
New  York  for  study. — Examination  of  routes. — Preliminary  sur- 
veys.— Feeding  public  sentiment. — The  example  of  the  Erie 
Canal. 


The  report  of  the  Governor,  made  two  years  previous, 
on  the  subject  of  a  canal  connecting  Lake  Erie  with  the 
Ohio  River,  was  very  instrumental  in  directing  public  at- 
tention to  that  subject.  And  although  those  opposed 
to  it  were  active  and  influential,  its  importance  was 
urged  with  such  earnestness  and  cogency  that  near  the 
close  of  the  session  Benjamin  Tappan,  Alfred  Kelley, 
Thomas  Worthington,  and  Ebenezer  Buckingham,  Junior, 
were  appointed  commissioners  to  cause  such  examina- 
tion, survey,  and  estimates  to  be  made  by  an  engineer, 
to  be  selected  by  the  Governor,  ^'  as  may  be  necessary 
to  ascertain  the  practicability  of  connecting  Lake  Erie 
with  the  Ohio  River  by  a  canal  through  the  following 
routes,"  viz  :  From  Sandusky  Bay  to  the  Ohio  River ; 
from  the  lake  to  the  river  aforesaid  by  the  sources  of  the 
Cuyahoga  and  Black  and  Muskingum  Rivers ;  and  from 
the  lake  by  the  sources  of  the  Grand  and  Mahoning 
Rivers  to  the  Ohio  River. 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

During  the  second  session,  that  of  1822-3,  Mr.  Kelley 
presented  to  the  Senate  the  report  of  the  Canal  Com- 
missioners appointed  at  the  preceding  session,  which  was 
drawn  by  him.  After  discussing  somewhat  in  detail  the 
different  routes  they  were  required  to  examine,  the  gen- 
eral result  of  that  examination,  the  prospective  business 
of  the  canal,  and  the  mode  of  procuring  the  means  for 
its  construction,  are  set  forth  as  follows : 

"  In  a  matter  of  such  high  importance  to  the  State,  noth- 
ing should  be  left  to  conjecture.  The  iuformatioii  obtained 
by  the  examinations  made  has  disclosed  the  important  fact 
that  there  is  no  doubt  of  the  practicability  of  making  a  canal 
on  some  one,  if  not  all,  of  the  routes;  but,  until  an  actual 
location  takes  place,  nothing  like  a  correct  estimate  can  be 
made  of  the  expense  of  making  a  canal  on  any  one  route." 

"  The  fertility  of  our  soil  promises  to  secure  to  the  labors  of 
agriculture  an  abundance,  very  far  beyond  any  probable  con- 
sumption in  our  territory. 

"  The  amount  of  the  tonnage  which  this  surplus  may  furnish 
for  the  employment  of  canal  navigation  can  not  be  estimated 
by  the  commissioners.  When  the  millions  of  acres  of  forest 
lands  within  the  State  shall  become  private  property  and  cul- 
tivated farms ;  when  our  present  produce  shall  be  quadrupled 
in  amount,  its  weight  and  its  value  would  startle  the  utmost 
credulity  of  anticipation  to  estimate ;  yet  wise  and  prudent 
legislators,  with  the  experience  this  State  has  had,  will  look 
forward  to  such  a  state  of  cultivation  and  improvement,  not 
as  a  visionary  or  uncertain  speculation,  but  as  the  certain  ef- 
fect of  existing  and  operating  causes. 

"But  the  products  of  agricultural  labor  will  not  be  the 
only  article  of  bulk  and  value  the  transportation  of  which  to 
distant  markets  will  be  opened  by  a  canal  navigation." 

*'  The  mineral  coal  of  Ohio  is  another  material,  at  present 
of  value  only  in  its  immediate  neighborhood,   which   by  a 

60 


•    Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

canal  navigation  will  become  an  important  and  very  valuable 
article  of  exportation.  To  all  these,  the  amount  and  value 
of  which  we  know  must  be  great,  though  we  want  the  means 
of  justly  estimating  them,  may  we  not  add  the  produce  of 
manufactories  which  must  spring  up  and  flourish  in  a  State 
possessing  within  herself,  in  her  coal,  iron  ores,  flax,  wool, 
and  a  variety  of  other  articles,  abundant  raw  materials  for 
manufacturing  those  fabrics  of  necessity  and  comfort  with 
which  we  are  now  supplied  from  the  work-shops  of  Europe ; 
from  whence  indeed  we  must  cease  in  a  great  measure  to  be 
supplied,  so  soon  as  tiie  government  of  the  Union  in  its  wis- 
dom shall  place  the  American  artisan  on  fair  equal  ground  of 
competition  with  the  foreign,  in  the  American  market." 

With  reference  "  to  the  ways  and  means  of  making 
such  canal,  should  it  be  found  practicable,"  the  commit- 
tee adds  : 

*'A  State  government  owning  no  funds  must  resort  to  taxa- 
tion or  loans  for  the  means  of  carrying  on  and  perfecting 
public  works.  If  these  works  are  of  mere  temporary  use, 
like  the  current  expenses  of  government,  the  cost  of  them 
should  be  defrayed  by  direct  taxation  ;  for  it  would  be  both 
unwise  and  unjust  to  burden  posterity  with  debts  contracted 
for  objects  of  no  use  nor  importance  to  them.  But  the  case 
is  far  different  with  works  of  great  permanent  utility ;  and  of 
which  the  ages  which  are  to  follow  us  on  the  stage  of  action 
will  reap  the  benefit,  and  may  well  bear  their  proportion  of 
the  expense.  The  great  public  works  in  progress  throughout 
the  Union  may  be  compared  to  the  revolution  achieved  by  our 
fathers,  the  expense  of  which  is  indeed  a  burden  upon  us,  but 
a  burden  light  and  trivial  when  compared  with  the  great 
blessings  we  enjoy  in  consequence  of  it." 

During  this  session  of  the  Legislature,  Mr.  Kelley 
also  made  an  effort  to  abolish  all  fictions  in  the  action  of 
ejectment,  but  he  could  not  overcome  the  attachment  of 
the  attorneys  to  useless  forms  and  antiquated  usages. 
This  was  an  incipient  step  toward  simplifying  legal  pro- 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  WorJt. 

ceedings,  rejecting  all  surplusage  and  technicalities,  and 
preparing  the  way  for  our  present  practice.  It  pro- 
ceeded from  a  mind  which  preferred  reality  to  fiction, 
and  simple  and  clear  statements  to  verbosity  and  ob- 
scurity. 

The  struggle  for  the  Ohio  Canal  was  commenced  in 
1819.  The  project  then  had  but  few  supporters,  but 
those  few  were  among  the  foremost  men  of  the  State. 
They  were  men  of  courage  and  forecast.  They  could 
and  did  appreciate  the  capabilities  of  the  State  and  the 
results  which  would  necessarily  follow  from  affording  an 
opportunity  for  their  development. 

The  project  required  courage,  enterprise,  and  perse- 
verance. Few  now  appreciate  the  feebleness  of  Ohio  as 
late  as  1825,  when  the  law  was  passed  providing  for  the 
improvement  of  the  State  by  a  canal  from  the  mouth  of 
the  Scioto  River  to  Lake  Erie,  and  from  Cincinnati  to 
Dayton.  In  1820,  the  State  had  less  than  six  hundred 
thousand  inhabitants.  In  1825,  its  entire  revenue  was 
less  than  two  hundred  thousand  dollars.  The  treasurer, 
in  his  report  for  the  year  ending  November  15,  1825, 
states  the  account  as  follows : 

''Amount  of  General  Revenue  Fund  re- 
maining in  the  Treasury  on  the  15th  of 
November,  1824 $63,535  18-5 

The  amount  received  for  taxes,  etc.,  from 
the  15th  of  November,  1824,  to  the  15th  of 
November,  1825  131,738  47-8" 


$195,273  66-3 
62 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

In  1822,  in  the  interior  of  the  State,  wheat  was  worth 
but  25  cents,  corn  12J  cents,  oats  14  cents,  potatoes  18f 
cents,  per  bushel ;  pork  2  cents,  beef  3  cents,  butter  6 
cents,  wool  50  cents,  flax  10  cents,  per  pound ;  eggs  4 
cents  per  dozen,  chickens  5  cents  each :  and  nearly  all 
the  trading  was  carried  on  by  barter.  There  w^as  no 
manufacturing  except  in  households  and  for  family  sup- 
plies. A  few  sagacious  men  appreciated  the  extraordi- 
nary productiveness. of  the  soil  of  Ohio,  its  inexhaustible 
mineral  resources,  and  its  means  for  maintaining  every 
variety  of  manufactures.  But  land  was  cheap,  money 
was  scarce,  and  the  inhabitants  were  poor.  The  task 
assumed  by  these  bold  men  rendered  it  necessary  k) 
convince  this  scattered  population,  composed  of  poor 
.  land-owners,  that  these  undeveloped  treasures  would  be 
so  far  utilized,  as  a  necessary  consequence  of  the  pro- 
posed improvements,  that  their  cost  would  not  be  an  op- 
pressive burden  ;  and  also,  that  after  paying  that  cost 
they  would  be  enriched  by  having  their  surplus  products 
brought  to  the  doors  of  the  eastern  and  southern  mar- 
kets. The  task  was  herculean,  but  "  there  were  giants 
in  those  days." 

On  the  27th  of  January,  1823,  a  "  supplementary"  act 
was  passed,  in  which,  among  other  things,  Micajah  T. 
Williams,  of  Cincinnati,  was  appointed  a  canal  commis- 
sioner, in  the  place  of  Jeremiah  Morrow,  who  had  re- 
signed. Mr.  Williams  was  an  able  and  efficient  co- 
laborer  in  gathering  facts  and  information  on  the  subject 
submitted  to  the  board,  in  molding  public  opinion,  and 

63 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

influencing  the  Legislature.  In  pursuance  of  the  "  sup- 
plementary act,"  Messrs.  Williams  and  Kelley  were  ap- 
pointed "  acting  commissioners,"  and  Mr.  Kelley  was 
directed  to  proceed  to  New  York,  "in  the  spring,  in 
order  to  collect  .such  information  as  might  be  obtained 
from  an  actual  inspection  of  those  works  [the  New  York 
canals],  parts  of  which  were  then  in  diflferent  stages  of 
construction,  from  the  first  breaking  of  the  ground  to 
their  completion." 

In  pursuance  of  this  direction  he  proceeded  to  New 
York,  examined  their  canals,  consulted  with  the  difi*erent 
officers  having  charge  of  them,  and  procured  all  the  in- 
formation which  could  be  obtained  in  regard  to  the  work 
generally  and  in  all  its  details.  This  examination  en- 
abled the  Ohio  commissioners  to  avoid  the  errors  and 
improve  upon  the  methods  of  those  of  New  York.  That 
they  did  so  is  made  evident  by  a  comparison,  which 
shows  that  the  Ohio  canals,  from  Cleveland  to  Ports- 
mouth, and  from  Cincinnati  to  Dayton,  were  as  thor- 
oughly built  as  those  of  New  York,  and  much  more 
economically. 

In  June  the  commissioners  met,  and  directed  a  survey 
and  location  of  a  route  from  Sandusky,  south,  by  the 
Miami  and  Scioto  Rivers.  Subsequently,  similar  work 
was  done  on  two  other  lines,  one  between  the  Sandusky 
and  Tuscarawas  routes,  and  the  other  on  the  line  of  the 
present  canal.  The  results  are  fully  and  clearly  stated 
in  the  report  made  January  21,  1824.  The  commission- 
ers premise  their  account  of  the  work  done  on  the  sev- 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

eral  lines  by  stating  the  principle  which  governed  them 
in  their  examinations  and  conclusions  : 

"In  determining  on  the  location  of  a  canal  route,  the  mem- 
bers of  the  board  have  uniformly  felt  disposed  to  yield  some- 
thing of  their  local  sentiment  and  wishes,  in  order  to  unite 
cordially  in  accomplishing  an  object  which  they  deem  essen- 
tial to  the  honor  and  prosperity  of  the  State,  and  we  have  the 
satisfaction  of  saying  that  there  has  been  a  concurrence  of 
opinion  in  the  direction  of  all  our  principal  operations." 

In  order  to  appreciate  the  labors  of  the  acting  com- 
missioners in  making  these  preliminary  surveys,  all  of 
which  were  done  under  their  personal  supervision,  it  is 
only  necessary  to  open  their  report : 

"Our  general  plan  of  operations  was  very  much  deranged 
by  the  extreme  unhealthiness  of  the  season.  Few  of  the  men 
employed  to  make  up  the  necessary  parties  were  able  to  pre- 
serve their  health  or  continue  their  service  more  than  a  week 
at  a  time." 

One  engineer  died,  and  the  others  Avere  unable  to  go 
through  the  season,  with  the  exception  of  Samuel  For- 
rer,  who  left  for  a  short  time  and  returned.  He  also 
suffered  much  "  from  exposure  and  the  sickliness  of  the 
season."  The  examinations  were  conclusive  against  the 
Sandusky  route,  as  it  clearly  appeared  that  water  could 
not  be  supplied  at  the  summit  except  at  an  expense 
which  prudence  forbade  to  be  incurred. 

Public  opinion  was  not  yet  ripe  for  the  adoption  of 
any  route,  and,  after  giving  a  detailed  account  of  the 
work  done  during  the  year,  the  commissioners  add : 

**  Few  things  contribute  so  much  to  the  honor  and  prosper- 
5  65 


Alfred  Kelley  ;  his  Life  and  Work, 

ity  of  a  State  as  a  strong  attachment  of  her  citizens  to  their 
country,  to  its  government,  its  institutions,  and  its  character. 
This  is  the  secret  chain  which  binds  together  in  one  great 
family  the  numerous  individuals  of  which  a  State  or  a  Nation 
is  composed ;  the  secret  spring  which  makes  them  alive  to  the 
general  interest  of  the  community,  to  its  honor  and  reputa- 
tion, and  ready  to  make  personal  sacrifices  for  the  promotion 
of  public  good. 

"  Without  this  feeling,  a  State  is  composed  of  a  multitude 
of  uncongenial  spirits,  held  together  rather  by  necessity  than 
from  choice,  and  continually  neutralizing  any  effort  which 
may  be  attempted,  by  clashing  interests  or  jealous  animos- 
ities. 

"No  nation  has  ever  become  great  without  some  nati(mal 
character ;  some  general  affecticms  of  the  people  ;  some  object 
to  excite  the  pride  of  her  citizens.  Perhaps  no  better  method 
can  be  devised  to  accomplish  this  object  than  to  design  and 
pursue  with  stability  some  leading  measures  of  state  policy ; 
some  great,  work  which  will  call  forth  the  exertions,  concen- 
trate the  affections,  of  her  citizens,  and  even  flatter  their 
laudable  ambition ;  some  effort  in  which  all  may  feel  a  com- 
mon interest;  some  achievement  which  will  cause  a  glow  of 
exultation  in  every  bosom,  at  the  thought  of  belonging  to  a 
State  tliat  has  merited  the  admiration  of  the  world. 

"Though  the  construction  of  the  great  canal  of  New  York 
is  a  work  so  grand  and  imposing,  its  advantages  to  the  public 
are  not  less  apparent.  The  benefits  which  have  already  re- 
sulted from  that  work,  although  it  is  not  yet  completed,  are 
so  great  as  to  stagger  belief,  if  they  were  not  capable  of  j)roof 
amounting  almost  to  mathematical  demonstration.  That 
every  saving  in  the  expense  of  transporting  the  surplus  pro- 
ductions of  a  country  to  market  is  just  so  much  added  to  the 
value  at  home  is  a  proposition  too  evident  to  require  proof, 
and  too, plain  to  need  illustration.  We  accordingly  find  that 
any  article  designed  for  a  distant  market  increases  in  price, 
where  it  is  produced,  in  exact  proportion  to  the  diminution  in 
the  expense  of  conveying  it  to  its  place  of  destination,  unless 
affected  by  accidental  circumstances.  Taking  this  rule  as  a 
criterion,  it  is  ascertained  by  information  derived  from  au- 
thentic sources,  that  on  the  productions  of  the  country  ex- 
ported from  the  single  county  of  Monroe,  situated  on  the 
Genesee  River,  in  New  York,  and  the  property  received  in 
return,  more   than   two   hundred  and  seventy-five  thousand 

66 


Alfred  Kelley ;  Ms  Life  and  Work. 

dollars  was  saved  during  the  last  season ;  in  other  words,  so 
much  money  was  put  into  the  pockets  of  those  who  raised  that 
produce  for  market  and  chose  who  received  such  articles  as 
they  needed  in  return.  .This  benefit  has  resulted  solely  from 
the  Erie  Canal,  and  the  sum  thus  saved  to  a  small  section  of 
country  would  more  than  pay  the  interest  for  one  year  on  all 
moneys  expended  in  the  construction  of  all  the  canal  lines  in 
that  State  which  were  then  completed.  This  fact  alone 
speaks  volumes  in  favor  of  canal  navigation,  and  ought  to 
carry  conviction  to  the  mind  of  every  reflecting  man. 

"  Many  people  seem  to  think  that  every  dollar  expended  in 
public  improvements  is  so  much  lost  to  society ;  that  it  is  an- 
nihilated, gone  out  of  existence  never  more  to  return.  Such 
opinions  are  founded  in  error.  Even  public  works  which  are 
erected  for  mere  show  and  ostentation,  which  afford  no  profit 
and  are  of  no  practical  benefit  when  completed,  do  not  neces- 
sarily diminish  the  wealth  of  the  community  by  whom  they 
are  constructed ;  if,  to  effect  these  objects,  the  rich  are  taxed, 
money  is  drawn  from  the  secret  recesses  in  which  it  has  long 
lain  useless,  the  labor  of  those  who  would  otherwise  have  re- 
mained idle  is  put  in  requisition,  and  by  this  labor  alone  the 
work  is  erected ;  for  the  money  still  remains  in  the  country, 
but  has  only  changed  hands,  generally  for  the  better.  If, 
then,  a  work  useless  in  itself  does  not  necessarily  detract  from 
the  wealth  of  the  community,  one  of  great  public  utility  can 
hardly  fail  to  add  to  that  wealth.  It  is  believed  by  many 
men  of  extensive  knowledge  and  enlarged  political  views,  in 
New  York  that  the  construction  of  their  great  canals  would 
be  beneficial  to  that  State,  even  admitting  those  works  to  be 
abandoned  the  moment  they  are  completed.  Such  has  been 
the  general  spring  given  to  industry,  such  the  amount  of 
labor  put  in  requisition  which  would  not  otherw'ise  have  been 
called  forth,  such  the  benefit  arising  from  the  distribution  of 
money  in  the  best  possible  manner,  that  the  inhabitants  are 
now  better  able  to  pay  the  interest  on  all  moneys  borrowed 
for  that  work,  than  they  would  otherwise  have  been  to  pay 
their  ordinary  tax  without  it.  But  fortunately  this  is  not  re- 
quired of  them.  They  now  reap  the  benefits  of  that  magnifi- 
cent undertaking,  without  even  feeling  that  they  are  taxed  to 
pay  the  interest  of  the  moneys  expended  in  its  construction. 
When,  we  may  ask,  was  a  nation  ever  impoverished,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  construction  of  works  which  had  for  their 
object  public  utility  or  convenience  ?     We  may  safely  chal- 

67 


Alfred  Kelley ;  Ms  Life  and  Work. 

lenge  the  history  of  the  world  to  produce  an  example  of  this. 
Perhaps  nothing  has  so  much  contributed  to  national  wealth 
and  prosperity  as  the  construction  of  roads  and  canals.  They 
not  only  add  to  the  value  of  the  articles  transported  on  them, 
but  give  a  powerful  stimulus  to  industry,  by  increasing  its 
profits.  Let  it  also  be  remembered  that,  as  we  reduce  the 
labor  expended  in  the  transportation  or  any  article,  there  re- 
mains so  much  more  which  may  be  applied  to  the  production 
of  that  article. 

"A  nation  is  not  always  rich  in  proportion  to  the  gold  and 
silver  in  her  possession ;  but  in  proportion  to  the  productive 
industry  of  her  citizens.  Spain  and  England  are  examples 
of  this;  the  one,  possessing  forcenturies  the  exhaustless  mines 
of  the  new  world,  has  been  continually  poor;  while  the  other, 
without  a  single  mine  of  gold  or  silver,  has  been  able,  from 
the  industry  of  her  citizens,  to  subsidize  kingdoms  and  wield 
at  pleasure  the  destinies  of  Europe. 

"If  *  population  be  strength  and  industry  be  wealth,'  as  has 
been  justly  said,  Ohio  even  now  is  both  powerful  and  rich. 
Possessing  a  free  population  of  700,000  inhabitants,  more 
than  100,000  of  whom  are  men  able  and  willing  to  labor,  we 
ought  rather  to  ask,  'What  can  she  not  do?'  than  doubt  her 
ability  to  perform  the  work  proposed." 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 


CHAPTER   YII. 

CANAL    COMMISSIONERSHIP. 

routes, — The  commissioners'  report. — Two 
routes  proposed. — The  question  of  expense. — A  public  debt. — 
The  Muskingum  and  Scioto  route  authorized  by  the  Legislature. 
— Mr.  Kelley's  forecast,  sagacity,  and  prudence. — Appointment 
as  canal  commissioner. — Three  dollars  per  day. — The  work  com- 
menced.— Health  impaired. — Report  for  1825. — Cost  of  the 
work. — Effect  of  the  canals. — Mr.  Kelley's  resignation  as  acting 
commissioner. — Proposed  inquiry  into  the  accounts. — The  form 
of  the  proposal  resented. — Mr.  Kelley's  methods  of  management. 


In  the  year  1824,  in  pursuance  of  the  act  of  the  pre- 
vious General  Assembly,  and  of  the  acts  to  which  that 
is  additional,  the  Board  of  Canal  Commissioners  ex- 
amined a  number  of  routes,  and  not  only  located  them 
but  estimated  their  cost.  Their  report,  which  was  made 
on  the  8th  of  January,  1825,  was  full  and  complete. 
Their  mode  of  proceeding  and  the  diiferent  routes  were 
so  clearly  and  fully  described,  and  the  estimated  cost 
was  so  plainly  stated,  that  it  was  unnecessary  to  look 
beyond  the  report  for  the  means  of  determining  what 
line  should  be  adopted.  The  wise  prudence  of  the 
State  and  the  care  and  skill  of  its  agents  clearly  ap- 
pear in  the  opening  paragraphs  : 

"  To  enable  the  board  to  complete,  in  one  season,  the  loca- 
tion of  two  entire  lines  across  the  State,  as  was  required  by 
the  last  General  Assembly,  it  was  deemed  necessary  to  form 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

two  exploring  and  locating  parties  for  that  service.  At  the 
head  of  one  of  these  parties  they  placed  Mr.  Samuel  Forrer, 
whose  persevering  enterprise  and  skill  had  already  given  him 
strong  claims  to  the  confidence  of  the  board.  The  earliest 
measures  were  taken  to  obtain  the  services  of  another  en- 
gineer, whose  experience  and  activity  should  qualify  him  to 
take  charge  of  the  second  party.  After  some  delay,  they  suc- 
ceeded in  obtaining  for  that  station  Mr.  William  H.  Price,  of 
New  York,  a  gentleman  of  considerable  experience  in  the 
construction  of  canals,  who  came  highly  recommended  from 
that  State.  Since  he  has  been  in  our  service,  he  has  given 
satisfactory  evidence  of  his  skill  and  experience  in  the  line  of 
his  profession,  and  of  his  future  usefulness  to  the  State, 
should  the  construction  of  her  proposed  canals  be  under- 
taken. 

"  They  also  made  application  to  the  Board  of  Canal  Com- 
missioners of  the  State  of  New  York,  as  directed  by  the  act 
of  Assembly,  for  one  of  their  most  experienced  and  approved 
engineers,  for  the  purpose,  during  the  latter  part  of  the  sea- 
son, of  revising  and  aiding  in  making  the  different  plans  and 
estimates  of  the  cost  of  constructing  a  canal  on,  the  lines  lo- 
cated." . .  .  .  "  This  application  resulted  in  the  employ- 
ment of  David  S.  Bates,  Esq.,  one  of  the  principal  engineers 
of  the  New  York  Canal,  who  has  been  engaged  in  the  con- 
struction of  that  work  from  its  commencement.  Judge  Bates 
arrived  in  this  State  about  the  first  of  September,  since  which 
time  he  has  revised  the  whole  of  the  lines  which  have  been 
located." 

After  describing  the  different  routes,  and  giving  a  de- 
tailed statement  of  their  cost  as  estimated  by  the  engi- 
neers, Forrer  and  Price,  and  revised  by  Judge  Bates,  the 
report  continues  as  follows : 

"  The  commissioners,  from  a  full  view  of  the  subject,  and 
an  examination  of  the  estimates,  which  will  be  laid  before 
the  General  Assembly,  are  of  opinion  that  it  is  practicable 
to  make  canals,  from  the  Lake  to  the  Ohio  River,  upon  two 
of  the  routes  which  have  been  surveyed  ;  one  commencing  at 
the  mouth  of  the  Scioto  River,  and  passing  by  the  Licking 
summit  and  the  Muskingum  River,  to  Lake  Erie.     And  the 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

other  from  Cincinnati  to  the  foot  of  the  Rapids  of  the  Mau- 
mee  River;  both  of  which  are  of  unquestionable  importance 
and  ought  to  be  made  by  the  State,  as  soon  as  the  necessary- 
funds  can  be  obtained  and  the  wants  of  the  people  require 
them.  , 

"They  recommend  therefore  the  passage  of  a  law  author- 
izing the  construction  of  the  first  mentioned  line  of  canal  and 
so  much  of  the  second,  as  extends  from  Cincinnati  to  Day- 
ton, and  providing  necessary  funds  therefor;  leaving  it  to 
succeeding  Legislatures  to  determine  when  it  will  be  expedi- 
ent to  complete  the  western  line,  to  the  foot  of  the  Maumee 
Rapids. 

"  Were  the  resources  of  the  State  adequate  to  the  present 
construction  of  both  canals,  it  might  be  expedient  to  under- 
take them  at  the  same  time.  But,  while  we  believe  that  the 
resources  of  the  State  are  fully  adequate  to  the  construction 
of  one  entire  route,  we  deem  it  highly  impolitic  to  undertake 
both  at  once.  Such  an  undertaking  would  not  only  subject 
the  people  of  the  State  to  burdens  greater  than  they  would 
cheerfully  bear,  but  it  could  hardly  fail  to  injure  the  credit 
of  the  State  abroad  by  inducing  capitalists  to  believe  that 
we  were  attempting  exertions  beyond  our  strength,  and  that 
our  councils  were  not  governed  by  sound  discretion. 

"If  then  it  is  imprudent  to  undertake  the  construction  of 
two  entire  lines  of  canal  from  the  lake  to  the  Ohio  River,  at 
the  same  time,  the  question  recurs — which  line  shall  be  first 
constructed  ? 

"In  settling  this  important  question,  we  are  aware  that 
local  feelings  and  sectional  interests  will  arise,  and  interpose 
their  influence,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree.  If  these  feelings 
and  interests  are  suffered  to  govern,  no  favorable  result  can 
be  expected.  In  all  states  or  communities,  whether  great  or 
small,  many  improvements  are  suggested  which  require  the 
joint  exertions  of  all.  If  all  these  improvements  must  be  ac- 
complished at  once,  or  not  at  all,  the  inevitable  consequences 
would  frequently  be  that  nothing  could  be  done,  the  strength 
of  the  State  being  inadequate  to  the  simultaneous  construction 
of  so  many  works.  It  then  becomes  indispensably  necessary 
to  the  progress  of  improvement  that  in  many  cases  the  in- 
terest of  one  section  of  the  country  or  class  of  society  be  post- 
poned to  those  of  another.  In  all  those  case,  those  improve- 
ments which  interest  the  greatest  proportion  of  the  commu- 
nity, which  will  be  the  most  extensively  useful,  in  proportion 

71 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

to  the  difficulty  of  their  attainment,  and  for  which  there  is 
most  urgent  necessity,  should  be  first  accomplished. 

"In  reference  to  the  question  under  consideration,  it  will 
be  observed  that  the  Muskingum  and  Scioto  route  passes 
through  the  State  nearer  the  center,  and  so  as  to  divide  its 
territory  much  more  equally  than  the  Maumee  and  Miami 
route ;  and  will  therefore  accommodate  a  much  greater  pro- 
portion of  its  area  and  population." 

The  report  contains  the  following  paragraphs  in  re- 
lation to  procuring  funds  for  the  construction  of  the 
canal,  and  the  revenue  system  then  in  force : 

"By  our  report  to  the  last  General  Assembly,  it  was  seen 
that  sufficient  funds  might  be  obtained  upon  loan,  and  on 
favorable  terms,  for  the  purpose  of  constructing  a  canal ;  and 
subsequent  information  has  fully  confirmed  the  favorable  con- 
clusions then  made  upon  this  subject.  For  the  commence- 
ment and  completion  of  these  works,  it  is  believed  that  the 
State  must  necessarily  borrow  all  or  nearly  all  the  sums 
wanted.  The  history  of  government  debts  is  not  likely  to 
make  very  strong  impressions  in  their  favor,  for,  with  iew  ex- 
ceptions, they  have  usually  been  contracted  for  objects  totally 
adverse  to  the  best  interests  of  society.  A  public  debt  is, 
doubtless,  a  great  evil  to  any  State  upon  which  it  may  be  im- 
posed, if  the  money  obtained  by  contracting  it  has  been 
wasted;  but  societies,  as  well  as  individuals,  may  wisely  con- 
tract debts,  and  leave  them  a  charge  upon  their  posterity,  if 
they  leave  to  that  posterity  in  the  estates  purchased,  or  im- 
provements made  by  the  moneys  so  procured,  an  ample  patri- 
mony to  discharge  them.  Such,  it  is  believed,  would  be  the 
case  with  a  debt  contracted  for  the  purpose  of  making  the 
proposed  canals;  for,  with  a  prudent  and  economical  ex- 
penditure in  making  them,  the  capital  vested  will  be  worth 
more  when  they  shall  be  completed,  even  as  merchantable 
stock,  than  they  will  have  cost;  and  will  increase  in  value 
while  the  population,  wealth,  and  business,  not  of  this  State 
only,  but  of  the  immense  regions  made  accessible  to  each 
other  by  them,  shall  continue  to  increase.  A  debt  therefore 
contracted  for  such  purposes  can  not  be  objectionable  if  the 
State  possess  the  ability  to  pay  the  interest  of  it." 

"  But  the  present  system  of  taxation,  although  adequate  to 

72 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

the  support  of  government,  and  although  it  may  afford  a  sur- 
plus applicable  to  other  objects,  is  extremely  unequal,  and  of 
course  inequitable  in  its  operation.  It  is  unequal  as  a  tax 
upon  land,  because  land  worth  fifty  cents  or  a  dollar  per  acre 
is  charged  from  twenty  to  a  hundred  fold  more,  in  proportion 
to  its  value,  than  land  which  is  worth  twenty  dollars  and  up- 
ward ;  and  this  inequality  can  not  be  remedied  by  the  present 
system  without  increasing  the  rates  of  land,  and  devising 
some  plan  which  will  secure  the  correct  entry  of  all  lands 
upon  the  tax  lists.  If  the  position  be  admitted  that  the 
necessary  expenses  of  the  State  should  be  contributed  by  all 
the  citizens  in  proportion  to  their  property,  then  the  land  tax, 
as  an  exclusive  source  of  revenue,  is  still  more  unequal  and 
oppressive,  in  as  much  as  it  leaves  exonerated  from  the  bur- 
den of  taxation  a  great  and  increasing  mass  of  personal  prop- 
erty ;  property,  too,  from  which  in  general  a  greater  profit 
is  derived  by  its  owners,  and  consequently  a  greater  ability  to 
share  the  public  burdens." 

After  a  tabular  statement  showing  the  probable  sum 
which  will  be  required  each  year,  with  the  amount  of 
interest  to  be  provided,  the  following  statement  is 
made  : 

"  The  business  will  gradually  increase  on  the  canals  as  the 
lines  of  commercial  intercourse  become  known  and  established, 
and  as  the  surplus  productions  of  the  soil  are  augmented  by 
the  stimulus  produced  by  an  easy  access  to  a  safe  and  cer- 
tain market;  so  that  in  the  year  1837,  the  net  income  of  the 
canals  will  pay  the  interest  on  all  sums  borrowed  for  their 
construction.  After  which  time,  the  increase  of  business  and 
revenue  on  the  canals  will  yield  a  surplus  fund  for  the  re- 
demption of  the  loans." 

On  the  1st  of  February,  1825,  an  additional  report 
was  made  containing  a  detailed  statement  of  the  ex- 
penses of  the  commissioners  in  making  their  examina- 
tions, surveys,  and  estimates,  and  in  regard  to  those  ex- 
penses, it  is  said  : 

73 


Alfred  Kelley;  his  Life  and  Work. 

"We  believe  that  the  history  of  canaling  furnishes  no  instance 
of  an  equal  length  of  line  having  been  located,  and  the  ex- 
penses of  constructing  a  canal  thereon  estimated,  in  the  same 
length  of  time,  nor  at. so  small  an  expense.  There  was  located 
in  New  York,  in  the  year  1816,  about  four  hundred  miles  of 
canal  line.  This  was  accomplished  for  sixteen  thousand 
nine  hundred  and  thirty-seven  dollars — a  sum  nearly  equal  to 
the  whole  cost  of  our  examinations,  surveys,  and  locations  for 
three  years ;  in  which  eight  hundred  miles  of  line  have  been 
actually  located  and  staked  out  on  various  routes,  and  at 
least  two  thousand  miles  of  random  leveling  have  been  per- 
formed." 

On  the  4th  of  February  a  bill  drawn  by  M.  T- 
Williams,  then  Speaker  of  the  House,  "  To  provide  for 
the  internal  improvement  of  the  State  of  Ohio  by  navi- 
gable canals,"  and  which  authorized  the  commissioners 
therein  provided  for  to  construct  a  canal  on  the 
Muskingum  and  Scioto  route  from  the  mouth  of  the 
Scioto  River  to  Lake  Erie,  and  also  a  canal  on  so  much 
of  the  Maumee  and  Miami  line  as  lies  between  Cincin- 
nati and  Mad  River,  at  or  near  Dayton,  was  enacted, 
signed,  and  became  a  law. 

The  reports  preceding  this  law  bear  upon  their  face 
the  indelible  impress  of  Mr.  Kelley's  forecast,  sagacity, 
and  judgment.  They  did  much  to  form  public  opinion, 
and  induce  the  Legislature  to  regard  the  enterprise  as 
essential  to  the  rapid  settlement  of  the  State,  the  devel- 
opment of  its  mineral  and  agricultural  resources,  and 
that  it  was  then  able  to  undertake  the  work.  Its  success 
was,  however,  a  matter  of  judgment,  and  not  a  certainty, 
and  the  Legislature  felt  the  responsibility  it  assumed ; 
and  on  the  same  day  that  the  law  was  enacted,  a  joint 

74 


Alfred  Kelley  ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

resolution  was  adopted  appointing  the  following  Board 
of  Canal  Commissioners :  Alfred  Kelley,  Micajah  T. 
Williams,  Thomas  Worthington,  Benjamin  Tappan,  John 
Johnson,  Isaac  Miner,  and  Nathaniel  Beasley. 

Mr.  Kelley  had  identified  himself  with  the  project  from 
the  beginning,  including  the  surveys,  locations,  and  esti- 
mates, and  now,  when  the  work  was  to  be  actually  under- 
taken, and  the  faith  of  the  State  was  pledged  for  its  cost, 
the  State  called  upon  him  to  realize  for  her  the  results 
which  had  been  so  clearly  stated  and  so  confidently  urged. 
He  accepted  the  trust,  and  staked  his  reputation  upon 
the  issue. 

When  he  accepted  the  office  of  Canal  Commissioner, 
he  had  a  leading  and  a  lucrative  practice  as  a  lawyer, 
and  a  home  on  the  bank  of  Lake  Erie,  in  Cleveland. 
They  were  both  entirely  abandoned  for  the  responsibil- 
ity, privations,  and  danger  to  health,  and  even  of  life, 
which  were  necessarily  incident  to  such  a  work.  If  selfish 
ambition  or  avarice  ever  influenced  his  conduct,  or  for  a 
moment  had  a  lodgment  in  his  mind,  the  State,  at  this 
period  would  not  have  commanded  his  services.  The 
maximum  of  compensation  allowed  by  law  was  three  dol- 
lars per  day.  This  Avas  to  him  no  compensation  present 
or  prospective.  He  was  solely  influenced  and  controlled 
by  the  hope  and  belief  that  when  the  work  should  be 
completed,  a  lasting  benefit  would  be  conferred  upon  his 
adopted  State,  and  the  consciousness  that  all  his  sacrifices 
would  be  made  for  the  benefit  of  the  public.  When  the 
work  was  commenced,  he  was   in   the  prime  of  life,  pos- 

75 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work, 

sessed  of  a  strong  constitution,  and  unimpaired  health. 
His  success  and  prosperity  were  assured.  He  sacrificed 
the  income  from  his  profession,  abandoned  his  pleasant 
home,  and  separated  his  family,  that  ha  might  engage  in 
this  important  and  perilous  work. 

Immediately  after  the  appointment  of  the  commis- 
sioners the  Board  was  organized,  and  Mr.  Williams  and 
Mr.  Kelley  were  appointed  acting  commissioners.  Pre- 
parations were  soon  made  for  putting  under  contract 
"  the  line  on  Licking  summit."  In  the  report  made  the 
10th  of  December,  1825,  the  Board  refers  to  the  com- 
mencement of  the  work  as  follows  : 

''About  to  commence,  in  behalf  of  the  people  of  the  State, 
the  construction  of  the  second  great  national  work  of  internal 
improvement  in  the  United  States,  and  recollecting  the  debt 
of  gratitude  which  is  due,  for  his  able  and  effective  services 
in  the  cause,  to  that  distinguished  individual,  the  acknowl- 
edged head  of  the  policy  which  is  so  happily  extending  itself 
throughout  our  common  country,  and  remembering,  also,  the 
deep  interest  which  he  has  in  all  cases  evinced,  in  the  success 
of  the  efforts  of  Ohio,  the  commissioners  felt  it  to  be  a  mark 
of  respect  due,  and  that  it  would  accord  with  the  feelings  of 
their  fellow-citizens  to  invite  Governor  Clinton,  of  the  State 
of  New  York,  to  be  present  at  the  important  and  interesting 
ceremony  of  commencing  the  work.  They  were  highly  grati- 
fied at  his  acceptance  of  the  invitation,  and  with  the  prompt 
manner  in  which  he  encountered  the  difficulties  of  complying 
with  their  wishes.  * 

"  On  the  fourth  day  of  July,  the  Board  had  the  satisfaction 
of  witnessing  the  commencement  of  the  work,  in  the  presence 
of  our  patriotic  Chief  Magistrate,  who  had  also  been  invited 
to  be  present  on  the  occasion,  and  of  Governor  Clinton,  to- 
gether with  several  citizens  of  New  York,  distinguished  advo- 
cates of  the  policy,  and  a  vast  concourse  of  their  fellow- 
citizens." 

76 


Alfred  Kelley ;  Ms  Life  and  Work. 

A  long  portion  of  the  line  under  Mr.  Kelley's  su- 
pervision ran  through  a  wilderness  or  sparsely  settled 
country,  in  relation  to  which  it  is  said  in  the  report  of 
January,  1827:  ^'During  the  months  of  July,  August, 
and  September,  the  work  could  not  be  prosecuted  except 
at  a  great  sacrifice  of  the  health  and  life  of  the  laborers, 
and  was  therefore  suspended."  It  would  be  difficult  to 
convey  an  adequate  idea  of  the  fatigue  and  exposure  to 
which  the  acting  commissioner  was  subject  in  the  dis- 
charge of  his  duties.  Appointments  were  always  kept, 
though  it  often  required  that  his  days  should  be  spent  in 
storms  and  in  bogs  and  miasma. 

While  acting  in  behalf  of  the  State,  and  exposing  his 
health  to  secure  her  against  loss  or  unnecessary  expense, 
Mr.  Kelley  was  equally  careful  and  considerate  of  the 
rights  of  the  laborers,  whose  "  reward  of  their  services  " 
was  secured  not  long  after  the  commencement  of  the 
work.     In  the  third  report,  the  Board  says  : 

"  The  measures  which  have  been  taken  by  the  acting  com- 
missioners to  secure  to  laborers  ou  the  canals  the  just  reward 
of  their  services  have  produced  a  beneficial  effect,  particu- 
larly on  these  parts  of  the  line  which  have  been  put  under 
contract  since  the  adoption  of  these  measures.  The  right  re- 
served by  the  acting  commissioners,  in  the  contract,  of  with- 
holding moneys  from  the  contractor,  and  paying  over  to  the 
laborer  directly  the  sums  due  him  for  work,  whenever  a  dis- 
position on  the  part  of  the  contractor  not  to  make  punctual 
payments  is  evinced,  has  had  the  effect  to  introduce  greater 
punctuality  in  the  payment  of  laborers. 

"  Still,  however,  instances  occur  in  which  all  the  exertions 
of  the  acting  commissioners  have  failed  to  produce  the  de- 
sired effect.  The  neglect  of  laborers  to  use  suitable  exertions 
and  to  take  the  necessary  measures  to  insure  the  payment  of 

77 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work, 

their  wages,  or  even  to  inform  the  commissioner  of  a  failure  in 
this  respect,  until  it  is  out  of  his  power  to  coerce  payment, 
together  with  the  want  of  economy  and  bad  management  on 
the  part  of  the  contractor  in  some  instances,  are  the  principal 
causes  of  the  existence  of  the  evil;  an  evil  which  it  is  ex- 
tremely difficult,  if  not  impossible,  entirely  to  prevent." 

After  five  or  six  years  of  exposure  and  uninterrupted 
labor,  Mr.  Kelley's  vigorous  constitution  yielded  to  their 
influence,  and  his  health  w^as  so  far  impaired  that  the 
Legislature,  in  February,  1832,  passed  the  following 
preamble  and  joint  resolution  : 

*'  Whereas,  the  health  of  Alfred  Kelley,  acting  commis- 
sioner of  the  Ohio  Canal,  has  been  seriously  impaired  by  his 
constant  attention,  for  several  years  past,  to  his  arduous  duties 
as  acting  commissioner,  so  that  he  is  now  unequal  to  the  labor 
of  his  station  ;  therefore,  as  a  tribute  of  respect  to  a  faithful 
public  servant — 

'^Resolved  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  That 
Alfred  Kelley,  acting  canal  commissioner,  be  allowed  leave 
of  absence  from  his  official  duties  until  the  first  day  of  July 
next." 

Mr.  Kelley  did  not  avail  himself  of  this  ofi'er,  but, 
by  care  and  prudence,  was  enabled  to  regain  a  little  of 
his  former  health  and  continue  to  perform  his  official 
duties. 

During  the  year  1832  the  two  canals  committed  to 
the  charge  of  the  commissioners  by  the  act  of  February 
4,  1825,  were  finished,  "  with  the  exception  of  the  lower 
lock  at  Portsmouth,  the  southern  terminus  of  the  Ohio 
Canal,  and  the  locks  by  which  the  Miami  canal  was.  to 
be  connected  with  the  Ohio  River  at  Cincinnati."  At 
this  time,  the  health  of  Mr.  Kelley  had  so  declined  that 

78 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

the  commissioners  held  their  meetings  at  his  house  in 
Columbus ;  and  he  there,  in  January,  1833,  prepared  the 
report  for  the  preceding  year. 

In  that  report  the  construction  of  the  canal  is  re- 
viewed— a  short  account  of  the  levels,  locks,  aqueducts, 
culverts,  feeders,  reservoirs,  is  given ;  and,  in  an  ap- 
pendix, a  copy  of  the  rules  and  specifications,  adopted 
for  the  various  kinds  of  work,  is  furnished.  Being  also 
desirous  of  making  a  full  financial  exhibit  of  the  work 
on  the  Ohio  Canal,  the  estimated  and  actual  cost  are 
carefully  compared.  No  such  comparison  could  be  made 
in  regard  to  the  Miami  Canal,  as  the  estimate  was  made 
of  the  entire  line,  from  Cincinnati  to  the  Maumee  River, 
and  no  separate  estimate  was  made  of  its  cost  from  Cin- 
cinnati to  Dayton. 

The  cost  of  the  Ohio  Canal,  as  estimated  in  the  report 
of  1855,  was  $3,081,880.83. 

There  was  actually  disbursed  on  it,  including  the 
amount  then  due  to  contractors — the  estimated  cost  of 
finishing  the  lower  lock  at  Portsmouth,  and  the  expense 
of  engineering  and  repairs,  $4,224,539. 64. 

A  large  portion  of  this  excess  of  the  cost  over  the  es- 
timate is  accounted  for  in  detail,  with  a  full  explanation 
of  each  item,  arid  is  then  aggregated  as  follows  : 

**  1.  Extension  of  the  canal — new  branches, 
feeders,  regulators,  and  other  new  works, 
as  previously  stated,  .         .         .         $218,675  76 

2.  Modifications  of  the  plan,  as  stated,       .       12U,711  67 

3.  Changes  of  location  to  sustain  local  inter- 

ests,     31,274  21 

79 


Alfred  Kelley;  Ms  Life  and  Work. 

4.  Additional  embaDkraent,  .         .  $150,000  00 

5.  Filling   and   securing  canal   after  accept- 

ance from  contractors,         .         .         .         100,000  00 
26.  Ordinary  repairs  from  Julv,  1827,  to  De- 
cember 1,  1832,  .         .     "  .        .         .        55,000  00 


$675,711  64" 


This  sum,  deducted  from  the  actual  cost,  leaves,  as  the 
excess  of  the  cost  over  the  estimate,  ^487,947.17. 

An  additional  statement  is  then  made  in  the  report,  as 
follows : 

''This  excess  is  in  part  attributable  to  the  influence  which 
the  making  of  the  canal  has  had  on  the  commercial  and  agri- 
cultural prosperity  of  the  State.  As  different  portions  of  the 
canal,  from  time  to  time,  have  been  opened  for  navigation,  a 
channel  has  been  presented  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  interior 
for  the  cheap  and  convenient  transportation  to  market  of  the 
products  of  their  farms,  their  forests,  and  their  mines. 
Labor  has  consequently  yielded  a  greater  profit,  and  both 
provisions  and  wages  have  risen  in  value.  This  state  of 
things  has  necessarily  increased  the  expense  of  constructing 
the  canal,  and  yet  it  has  operated  beneficially  to  the  people  of 
the  State.  For,  while  the  cost  of  the  canal  has  been  en- 
hanced, the  excess  has  been  paid  to  them-  for  their  labor  and 
provisions,  and  the  surplus  sent  abroad  for  sale  has  been  at 
the  same  time  increased  in  value,  in  Qpnsequeuce  of  the  di- 
minished expense  of  transporting  it  to  market. 

"The  increased  amount  of  money  which  has  been  thrown 
into  circulation  by  the  heavy  disbursements  on  the  public 
works  has  also  had  an  effect  to  raise  the  price  both  of  labor 
and  provisions. 

"The  extensive  works  of  internal  improvements  which 
have  been  prosecuted  with  so  much  energy  in  the  adjoining 
States,  particularly  in  Pennsylvania,  and  by  the  national  gov- 
ernment in  our  own  State,  have  drawn  off  a  great  number  of 
mechanics  and  common  laborers,  who  otherwise  would  have 
sought  employment  on  our  canal,  and  have  consequently  en- 
hanced the  price  of  labor,  the  cost  of  the  canal,  and  at  the 
same  time  have  retarded  its  completion. 

80 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

*'The  frequent  abandonment  of  jobs  by  contractors,  in 
some  cases  from  dishonest  motives,  but  much  more  frequently 
from  errors  in  judgment  as  to  the  value  of  work,  or  as  to 
their  own  skill  and  ability  to  perform  it  with  economy,  leading 
them  to  contract  at  prices  below  those  at  which  they  could 
complete  it  without  serious  losses,  produced  the  necessity  of 
frequent  re-letting  at  rates  above  the  actual  value  of  the  work. 
This  consequence  resulted  from  the  limited  time  in  which  the 
public  interest  required  the  completion  of  these  jobs  at  the 
time  of  their  being  re-let,  and  the  scarcity  and  high  price  of 
labor  attendant  upon  the  extraordinary  exertions  necessary  to 
accomplish  a  large  amount  of  work  in  a  short  period. 

"  The  prices  fixed  on  the.  work  of  various  kinds  in  the  orig- 
inal estimates  were  generally  sufficient  to  cover  the  expense  of 
its  execution,  but  the  quantities  were  in  many,  indeed  in 
most,  cases  materially  deficient ;  and  experience  has  shown 
that  a  far  greater  amount  of  work  was  necessary  even  to 
finish  the  canal  on  the  plan  originally  designed  than  was  then 
estimated. 

"  In  relation  to  this  subject,  it  should  be  observed,  that  the 
surveys  on  which  the  first  estimates  of  cost  were  formed  were 
made  in  a  much  more  hasty  and  consequently  less  perfect 
manner  than  would  have  been  required  to  serve  as  a  basis  of 
correctly  estimating  quantities,  or  than  would  have  been  done 
had  more  time  been  given. 

"  During  the  season  in  which  these  surveys  were  principally 
made,  upward  of  six  hundred  miles  of  canal  lines-  were 
located  by  two  parties.  Under  these  circumstances,  minute 
examinations  and  surveys  could  not  be  expected.  They  were 
in  fact  mostly  confined  to  ascertaining  the  elevations  and  de- 
pressions of  the  surface  on  a  longitudinal  line  along  the  center 
of  the  ground  proposed  to  be  occupied  by  the  canal ;  and  even 
on  this  line  the  smaller  irregularities  of  the  surface  were  not 
ascertained.  The  result  of  forming  an  estimate  from  such 
imperfect  surveys  was  that  the  quantities  of  earth  necessary 
to  be  removed  in  order  to  construct  the  canal  were  much 
underrated,  particularly  on  uneven  and  sideling  grounds.  In 
a  hasty  estimate,  predicated  on  such  imperfect  surveys,  many 
structures  of  various  kinds,  necessary  to  render  a  canal  sub- 
stantial and  convenient,  were  either  entirely  omitted,  or 
small  and  cheap  works  were  supposed  to  be  sufficient  where 
subsequent  examination  has  shown  that  much  larger  and 
more  expensive  structures  were  necessary.     It  is,  however, 

6  81 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

probable  that  much  of  this  additional  cost  would  have  been 
covered  by  the  very  liberal  prices  generally  affixed,  in  the 
first  estimates,  to  the  work,  had  the  prices  of  labor  and  pro- 
visions remained  as  they  then  were.  But  this  state  of  things, 
owing  to  the  causes  previously  noticed,  did  not  continue  to 


No  canal  in  this  country  or  in  Europe  of  equal  length 
had  been  constructed  at  as  small  a  cost  per  mile,  or  at  so 
small  an  advance  on  the  original  estimate,  if  it  can  be 
fairly  claimed  that  the  cost  of  the  Ohio  Canal  was  not 
within  that  estimate. 

The  predicted  results  of  this  great  enterprise  were 
more  than  realized ;  and  its  success  exhibits  extraordi- 
nary sagacity  and  forecast  on  the  part  of  its  advocates, 
especially  when  the  condition  of  the  State  in  1825  is 
considered.  In  1832,  the  tolls  amounted  to  $123,794.21. 
They  increased  rapidly  each  year,  and  in  1837  amounted 
to  $355,769.50. 

The  report  of  1832  also  contains  a  table  exhibiting  the 
different  articles  transported  on  the  canals,  with  the 
amount,  price,  and  value  of  each,  and  the  "  aggregate 
saving  in  expense  of  transportation  "  on  both  canals  is 
shown  to  be  $312,156.87.  This  amount  was  increased 
every  year  in  proportion  to  the  increase  of  transporta- 
tion. 

The  general  effect  produced  upon  the  State  can  not  be 
better  illustrated  than  by  a  comparison  of  the  appraised 
value  of  real  estate  for  the  purpose  of  taxation,  at  dif- 
ferent periods. 

82 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

Prior  to  1826,  lands  were  assessed  for  taxation  by  the 
acre,  and  not  according  to  their  value. 

In  1826,  the  realty  of  the  State  was  valued  at 
115,946,840. 

In  1835,  it  was  valued  at  175,760,797. 

In  1841,  it  was  valued  at  $100,851,837. 

This  extraordinary  increase  Avas  caused  by  the  en- 
hanced value  of  farming  products;  which  in  1832  were 
brought,  by  the  canals,  within  the  reach  and  influence 
of  the  New  York  and  southern  markets. 

In  a  report  of  Joseph  S.  Lake  and  N.  H.  Swayne,  as 
Canal  Fund  Commissioners,  on  the  20th  of  January, 
1842,  they  refer  to  this  subject  as  follows : 

"  The  Ohio  Canal  has  again  netted  exceeding  six  per  cent 
upon  its  cost.  ...  It  should  be  constantly  borne  in  mind, 
however,  that  the  revenue  derived  from  such  works,  however 
important  to  the  public  treasury,  is  a  very  small  part  of  the 
benefits  they  confer.  The  rapid  growth  of  Ohio,  in  popula- 
tion and  resources,  since  the  census  of  1830,  must  be  attrib- 
uted mainly  to  this  cause.  There  is  every  reason  to  anticipate 
the  like  growth  for  some  years  to  come." 

Mr.  Kelley  continued  to  discharge  the  duties  of  acting 
commissioner  until  1834,  when  he  addressed  the  follow- 
ing communication  to  the  Board  : 

''Columbus,  2Ath  Jan'y,  1834. 
"To  the  Board  of  Canal  Commissioners : 
"Gentlemen: 
"  I  deem  it  proper  to  inform  you  that  I  have  concluded  to 
resign  the  appointment,  which  I  now  hold  from  the  board,  of 
acting  commissioner,  as  early  as  the  first  day  of  March  next ; 
and  I  make  this  communication,  at  this  time,  that  the  board 

83 


Alfred  Kelley  ;  his  Life  and  Work, 

may  have  an  opportunity  to  make  the  necessary  arrangements 
for  supplying  the  place. 

*'  Had  I  consulted  my  own  inclinations,  or  the  wishes  of  my 
family  only,  I  should  have  taken  this  course  some  years  ago. 
I  was,  however,  unwilling  to  abandon  a  trust  which  I  had 
undertaken  to  perform,  particularly  when  the  discouraging 
circumstances  and  serious  difficulties  with  which  we  were  sur- 
rounded might  induce  the  belief  that  I  was  impelled  to  do 
so  by  despairing  of  ultimate  success.  The  opinion  expressed 
by  the  board  that  the  knowledge  which  I  have  derived  from 
personal  observation  and  experience  was  important  to  a  suc- 
cessful prosecution  of  the  work  operated  as  a  further  induce- 
ment to  continue  in  the  station  assigned  me. 

"As  the  canals  are  now  so  nearly  finished,  and  as  the  suc- 
cessful execution  of  the  public  works  in  which  we  have  been 
engaged,  their  widely  extended  benefits  and  increasing  profits, 
have  settled  public  opinion  in  their  favor,  I  can  now  retire 
from  active  service  without  discredit  to  my  motives,  or  injury 
to  the  public. 

"^I  am  more  strongly  impelled  to  take  this  step  by  a  con- 
victioii  that  an  efficient  superintendence  of  the  Ohio  Canal  re- 
quires the  undivided  attention  of  an  acting  commissioner, 
and  demands  the  employment  of  a  much  larger  portion  of  his 
time  on  the  line  than  I  can  employ  in  that  manner,  with  due 
regard  for  my  health,  impaired  as  it  has  been  by  continual 
exposure  and  unremitted  exertions  for  seven  or  eight  succes- 
sive years. 

"In  conclusion,  permit  me  to  express  my  grateful  sense 
of  the  manner  in  which  I  have  been  sustained  by  the  board 
in  the  performance  of  my  duties,  and  of  the  confidence  which 
they  have  placed  in  me  during  the  time  I  have  acted  as  their 
agent. 

*'  With  sentiments  of  the  most  sincere  regard, 

"  I  am,  gentlemen,  your  humble  serv't, 

"Alfred  Kelley." 

Mr.  Kelley  remained  in  the  Board,  as  commissioner 
only,  after  the  time  specified  in  the  preceding  communi- 
cation. Having  resigned  as  acting  commissioner,  it  was 
due  to  him  and  the  State  that  his  accounts  should  be 
examined  and  reported  upon.     In  pursuance  of  this  ob- 

84 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

ligation  on  the  part  of  the  State,  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives of  the  next  Legislature,  on  the  7th  of  March, 
1835,  passed  a  resolution  providing  for  the  examination 
of  the  "  books,  vouchers,  and  accounts,"  and  "  all  the 
official  transactions  of  the  Board  of  Canal  Commission- 
ers of  tliis  State,  and  also  of  the  Canal  Fund  Commis- 
sioners, from  the  commencement  of  our  canal  improve- 
ment up  to  the  present  time."  In  addition  to  the  ordi- 
nary provisions,  the  resolution  conferred  the  extraordi- 
nary power  ''  to  send  for  persons  and  papers." 

Mr.  Kelley  immediately  prepared  the  following  paper, 
which  was  signed  by  all  the  members  of  the  Board  then 
in  Columbus,  and  delivered  to  the  House  on  the  9th 
of  March ;  and  in  regard  to  which  one  of  the  Board,  Mr. 
Samuel  Forrer,  in  calling  the  attention  of  the  writer  to 
it,  says :  "  Its  character  shows  his  manner  of  meeting 
issues  of  the  kind  involved  in  the  controversy ;  and  the 
result  shows  what  an  indomitable  will  in  defense  of  jus- 
tice may  effect,  even  on  a  legislative  body:" 

"To  the  Honorable  the  House  of  Representatives: 

"  The  undersigned,  members  of  the  Board  of  Canal  Com- 
missioners (being  all  the  members  of  the  Board  "now  in  Co- 
lumbus), have  learned  with  much  surprise  that  the  House 
have  passed  a  resolution  requiring  the  appointment  of  a  com- 
mittee to  examine  the  accounts,  vouchers,  conduct  and  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Canal  Commissioners  and  of  the  Commission- 
ers of  the  Canal  Fund,  with  power  to  send  for  persons  and 
'papers. 

"  The  undersigned  believe  that  it  is  not  in  accordance 
with  parliamentary  and  legislative  usages  to  clothe  com- 
mittees with  extraordinary  power,  unless  the  Legislature,  or  the 
branch  from  which  such  powers  may  emanate,  have  strong  pre- 
sumptive evidence  that  some  misdemeanor  or  some  malfeasance 

85 


Alfred  Kelley  ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

in  office  has  occurred  the  investigation  of  which  requires  the 
examination  of  witnesses  and  papers  that  can  only  be  ob- 
tained by  compulsory  process.  If  this  view  of  legislative 
usages  be  correct,  it  must  be  evident  that  the  passage  of  the 
resolution  in  question  carries  with  it  the  declaration  that 
the  House  have  strong  reasons  to  believe  there  has  been  some 
gross  malfeasance  practiced  by  the  agents  of  the  State  whose 
official  conduct  it  is  proposed  to  investigate,  or  that  some 
parts  of  the  accounts  or  vouchers,  or  evidence  of  some  of 
their  proceedings,  will  be  improperly  withheld  from  the  in- 
spection of  the  committee. 

"Although  the  members  of  the  House  may  individually 
understand,  from  declarations  made  on  the  floor,  that  no  such 
imputations  are  intended,  a  little  reflection  will  satisfy  the 
House  that  the  community  at  large,  who  have  not  heard 
these  declarations  of  members,  must  judge  of  the  subject 
from  the  tenor  of  the  resolution  itself  when  construed  accord- 
ing to  the  established  usages  of  legislative  bodies ;  and  that 
the  character  of  the  agents  whose  conduct  is  to  be  investi- 
gated must  suffer  these  implied  imputations  until  a  report 
can  be  made  at  the  next  annual  session  of  the  General  As- 
sembly. 

"  Had  the  resolution  in  question  received  the  sanction  of 
both  branches  of  the  General  Assembly,  the  undersigned 
could  have  no  hesitation  as  to  the  proper  course  to  be  pur- 
sued. They  could  not  for  a  moment  consent  to  hold  a  trust, 
after  the  representatives  of  the  people  had  expressed,  even 
by  implication,  doubts  as  to  their  being  worthy  of  confidence. 
How  far  a  similar  course  is  required,  when  but  one  branch 
of  the  General  Assembly  has  adopted  a  measure  which,  ac- 
cording to  the  ordinary  rules  of  construing  such  proceedings, 
implies  a  want  of  confidence  in  the  integrity  of  agents  who 
have  been  appointed  by  the  joint  act  of  both  branches,  pre- 
sents a  more  difficult  question. 

"  Under  existing  circumstances,  the  undersigned  deem  \\  a 
duty  which  they  owe  to  themselves,  as  well  as  to  those  who 
have  acted  with  them,  and  who  are  now  absent,  to  the  pub- 
lic and  to  the  character  of  the  State,  respectfully  but  earn- 
estly to  solicit  an  unequivocal  expression  of  the  House,  in 
relation  to  the  construction  of  that  part  of  the  resolution 
which,  as  it  now  stands,  the  undersigned  believe  may  and 
will,  by  many,  be  construed  to  imply  suspicion  of  their  official 
integrity.     An  explicit  declaration  of  the  House,  either  one 

86 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work, 

way  or  the  other,  on  this  point,  will  at  once  relieve  the  un- 
dersigned from  their  present  embarrassment,  and  determine 
them  as  to  the  proper  course  for  them  to  pursue. 

"Tiie  undersigned,  for  themselves  and  in  behalf  of  their 
absent  colleagues,  beg  to  be  distinctly  understood  as  not  wish- 
ing to  avoid  a  full  and  rigid  scrutiny  of  their  accounts  and 
official  conduct.  They  indignantly  repel  every  intimation  of 
a  desire  on  their  part  to  shrink  from  an  investigation  of  their 
proceedings.  They  earnestly  wish,  and  respectfully  demand, 
a  full,  minute,  and  rigid  investigation  of  all  their  accounts, 
vouchers,  and  whole  official  conduct.  But  at  the  same  time, 
they  solemnly,  but  respectfully,  remonstrate  against  the  en- 
tering upon  the  journals  of  the  House,  and  publishing  to  the 
world,  of  a  document  which  implies  the  possession  of  strong 
presumptive  evidence  of  fr^ud  or  official  misconduct,  unless 
the  House  have  such  evidence  in  their  possession,  or  unless 
some  m.ember  shall,  upon  his  official  responsibility,  declare 
that  he  has  good  reason  to  believe  that  such  fraud  or  miscon- 
duct has  actually  occurred. 

"The  constitution  and  laws  of  our  State  secure  from  search 
the  persons,  houses,  papers,  and  possessions  of  private  citi- 
zens, without,  at  least,  probable  evidence  of  crime.  So  care- 
ful were  the  framers  of  our  constitution  and  laws  to  prevent 
a  wanton  invasion  of  the  character  or  property  of  our  citizens ; 
and  we  are  reluctant  to  believe  that  a  branch  of  the  General 
Assembly  will  cast  an  imputation  upon  the  character  of  pub- 
lic officers,  who  have  a  right  to  demand  protection  at  their 
hands,  by  a  deliberate  public  act,  unless  there  are,  at  leasts 
strong  reasons  to  suspect  official  misconduct. 

"The  laws  of  the  State  require  that  the  accounts  and 
"vouchers,  both  of  the  canal  commissioners,  and  commissioners 
of  the  canal  fund,  shall  be  filed  in  the  Auditor's  office,  and 
that  they  shall,  from  time  to  time,  report  their  official  pro- 
ceedings to  the  General  Assembly.  These  requisitions  of  law 
have  been  complied  with,  and  it  is  well  known  that  these  ac- 
counts and  vouchers  have  long  been,  and  are  now,  in  the 
office  of  the  Auditor,  recorded  in  books  prepared  for  that 
purpose,  and  subject  to  the  control  of  the  General  Assembly 
and  to  the  inspection  of  its  committees.  The  proceedings  of 
the  Board  of  Canal  Commissioners  are  recorded,  and  subject 
to  the  same  control  and  inspection.  The  accounts  of  both 
boards  have  been  uniformly  closed  for  each  year  in  time  for 
the  examination  of  the  committee  of  either  or  both  branches 

87 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

of  the  Legislature,  and,  previously  to  the  last  session,  have 
uniformly  been  examined  by  the  committees  of  both  Houses. 
It  is  not  the  fault  of  the  commissioners  that  this  service  has 
not  since  been  performed ;  the  accounts  have  been  prepared 
in  season,  and  the  committee,  or  members  thereof,  notified 
that  they  were  in  readiness  to  be  submitted. 

"The  amount  of  money  which  has  come  into  the  hands  of 
the  canal  commissioners,  or  the  commissioners  of  the  fund, 
can  be  readily  ascertained  ;  and  they  are  bound  to  account, 
and  that  too  in  a  satisfactory  manner,  for  its  disbursement. 
If  they  fail  to  do  so,  they  will  be  obnoxious  to  censure.  But 
until  there  is  some  evidence  of  such  failure,  or  of  ofiicial  mis- 
conduct, the  undersigned  can  not,  without  remonstrating 
against  its  injustice,  submit  to  even  an  implied  aspersion  of 
their  characters. 

"  Kespectfully  submitted  by 

John  Johnston, 
Alfred  Keixey, 
Samuel  Forrer, 

"  Columbm,  March  7,  1835."  Leander  Ransom." 

On  Monday,  the  9th  of  March,  the  Senate  passed  the 
following : 

*^ Resolved  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  That 
Gustavus  Swan,  Noah  H.  Swayue,  and  P.  B.  Wilcox  be,  and 
they  are  hereby,  appointed  a  committee  to  examine  the  books 
and  accounts  of  the  canal  commissioners  and  of  the  canal 
fund  commissioners,  and  that  the  said  committee  report  their 
proceedings  and  the  result  of  their  examination  to  the  next 
General  Assembly." 

This  resolution,  respectful  in  its  terms,  and  not  implying 
any  thing  offensive,  was  sent  to  the  House,  and  its  adop- 
tion was  the  first  act  of  that  body,  after  the  reading  of 
the  communication  of  the  canal  commissioners. 

The  three  persons  appointed  as  a  committee,  on  ac- 
count of  the  neglect  of  the  officers  of  the  Legislature, 
or  for  some   other  reason,  were  not  officially  notified  of 

88 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

the  passage  of  the  resolution,  and  nothing  was  done  to- 
ward an  investigation. 

On  the  sixth  of  January,  1836,  the  Board  of  Canal 
Commissioners  made  their  last  report,  and,  at  its  close, 
this  subject  is  thus  referred  to : 

"  The  canals  authorized  to  be  made  by  the  act  of  the  4th 
of  February,  1825,  "for  the  internal  improvement  of  the 
State  of  Ohio  by  navigable  canals,"  having  been  completed, 
and  the  agents  of  the  State,  upon  whom  devolved  the  imme- 
diate disbursements  of  the  moneys  expended  in  these  works, 
having  resigned  their  trusts  and  rendered  their  accounts,  it  is 
due  to  the  citizens  of  the  State  that  they  be  officially  in- 
formed how  their  funds  have  been  expended  and  accounted 
for,  and  whether  their  agents  have  faithfully  and  discreetly 
executed  the  important  duties  and  powers  conferred  on  them 
by  law. 

"It  is  also  due  to  these  agents  that  their  accounts  for  the 
disbursement  of  the  large  sums  which  have  passed  through 
their  hands  shall  be  fully  investigated  and  finally  settled  ;  and 
that  the  manner  in  which  they  have  executed  their  trusts, 
generally,  shall  be  inquired  into,  and  approved  or  disap- 
proved, according  to  its  merits,  by  a  committee  of  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly,  or  other  persons,  in  whom  both  the  people  and 
their  representatives  will  have  full  confidence. 

"  Books,  vouchers,  and  other  papers  are  liable  to  destruc- 
tion or  loss,  .  .  .  witnesses  of  important  transactions  are 
liable  to  death,  and  still  more  to  a  failure  in  their  memory  of 
past  events ;  and  it  is  obvious,  under  these  circumstances, 
that  the  character  of  the  agents  in  whom  important  discre- 
tionary powers  have  been  vested,  and  through  whose  hands 
millions  of  public  money  have  passed,  may  suffer  from  the 
misrepresentations  of  those  who  are  misinformed  or  preju- 
diced, however  correct  the  conduct  of  the  agents  may  have 
been." 

In  pursuance  of  this  appeal,  the  General  Assembly,  in 
March,  appointed  a  committee  of  three  to  examine  and 
report  upon  the  accounts  and  vouchers  of  the  canal  com- 

89 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

missioners  and  canal  fund  commissioners,  and  also  au- 
thorized the  Governor  to  fill  vacancies  occasioned  by  de- 
clination or  otherwise.  There  were  declinations  and  ap- 
pointments by  the  Governor,  and  the  committee  was 
finally  composed  of  three  political  adversaries  of  Mr. 
Kelley,  and  as  violent  partisans  as  could  have  been  se- 
lected in  the  State.  That  committee,  in  October,  made 
a  report  to  the  Governor,  of  which  the  following  is  a 
part : 

*'  The  Board  of  Commissioners,  appointed  '  to  examine  the 
books  and  vouchers  of  the  canal  commissioners,  also  the  books 
and  vouchers  of  the  canal  fund  commissioners,  and  to  audit 
and  adjust  the  same,'  in  obedience  to  certain  joint  resolutions 
of  the  General  Assembly  of  Ohio,  passed  March  14,  1836, 
hereby  and  herein  report  to  the  Governor  of  the  State  the 
result  of  such  examination  as  they  have  been  able  to  make, 
which  is  only  part  of  the  duty  required  of  them. 

"We  have  also  examined  the  accounts  of  the  acting  canal 
commissioners,  with  the  vouchers  connected  therewith,  and 
find  them  substantially  correct ;  in  other  words,  we  find  no 
account  of  money  disbursed  by  them  which  has  not  been 
honestly  accounted  for,  either  as  agents  for  contracts,  or  for 
contingent  and  incidental  expenses  for  the  construction  of  the 
Ohio  canals.  Respectfully  submitted, 

Elijah  Hayward, 
Wm.  B.  Van  Hook, 
M.  Z.  Kreider, 

Committee.'^ 

During  the  construction  of  the  Ohio  Canal,  every  part 
of  the  work  was  subjected  to  Mr.  Kelley 's  supervision, 
and  contractors  soon  learned  that  no  fraud  or  artifice 
could  escape  his  vigilance,  and  that  they  could  not  avoid 
the  faithful  performance  of  their  agreements.     He  was  in- 

90 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

flexibly  true  to  the  interests  of  the  State.  While  acting 
for  her,  he  did  not  consider  that  he  had  a  right  to  depart 
from  the  contracts  in  behalf  of  a  contractor  or  the  State. 
The  State  could  yield  its  rights,  and  be  generous  with  its 
money,  but  the  agent  had  no  such  authority. 

The  advantage  which  the  State  derived  from  having  such 
an  agent  was  soon  discovered.  The  long  line  of  canal, 
stretching  for  three  hundred  and  thirty-three  miles  from 
the  lake  to  the  river,  was  constructed  with  the  same  care, 
prudence,  and  economy  that  are  observed  in  the  best  man- 
aged private  enterprises.  The  rights  of  the  State  were 
protected ;  none  of  her  money  was  squandered,  or  lost 
by  inattention,  carelessness,  or  negligence ;  but  all  which 
passed  through  the  hands  of  the  commissioners  was  rep- 
resented by  the  best  quality  of  work. 

The  honest  contractors,  and  most  of  them  were  such, 
were  attached  to  Mr.  Kelley.  His  engineers  admired 
and  revered  him.  One  of  them  informed  the  writer  of 
this,  that  the  corps  to  which  he  belonged  looked  for- 
ward with  much  interest  to  his  frequent  examinations  of 
the  work,  as  he  generally  spent  the  night  with  them,  and 
the  evening  w^as  passed  in  the  discussion  of  matters  of 
science  connected  with  their  business,  or  historic  or  po- 
lite literature,  from  which  they  derived  lasting  benefit. 
He  was  to  them  not  only  an  employer,  but  a  friend,  who 
was  interested  in  their  success  and  improvement. 

Each  year  a  report  was  prepared  containing  a  full  and 
detailed  statement  of  what  had  been  done  during  the 
preceding  twelve  months.     These  reports  are  models  of 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

their  kind.  Their  frankness  and  clearness  disarmed  op- 
position, except  in  one  or  two  instances  in  which  the  pre- 
judice of  an  enemy  ran  away  with  his  judgment,  and 
whose  complaints  and  fault  finding  were  met  and  silenced 
by  a  little  forcible  truth. 

On  one  occasion,  when  a  member,  who  had  for  many 
years  exhibited  unrelenting  hostility  to  Mr.  Kelley,  was 
addressing  the  House  in  relation  to  the  construction  of  a 
portion  of  the  canal  near  Cleveland,  and  making  state- 
ments in  regard  to  it  which  were  untrue,  Mr.  Kelley  hap- 
pened to  be  sitting  some  distance  from  and  in  front  of 
him,  and  being  attracted  by  his  bitterness  and  errors, 
turned  toward  him,  and  looking  steadily  at  him  with  an 
expression  of  the  most  forcible  and  direct  denial  of  his 
assertions,  the  member  begun  to  qualify,  then  explain, 
then  retract,  and  finally  sat  down. 

During  the  construction  of  the  canals,  and  after  they 
were  finished,  agriculture  and  manufactures  rapidly  in- 
creased, and  population  multiplied.  On  this,  her  first 
great  work,  as  a  necessary  foundation,  have  been  built  up 
that  wealth  and  influence  which  have  given  to  Ohio  a 
place  among  the  foremost  of  the  American  States.  The 
improvements  which  have  followed  were  all  dependent 
upon  this. 

The  State  derived  all  the  benefit,  but  to  accomplish  it, 
Mr.  Kelley  submitted  to  extraordinary  sacrifices.  He 
retired  from  office  possessed  only  of  the  property  he 
owned  when  he  accepted  it.  The  commissioners  did  not 
consider  it  their  privilege  or  right  to  take  advantage  of 

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Alfred  Kelley  ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

their  positions,  as  agents  for  the  State,  and  thus  add  to 
their  personal  fortunes.  They  refrained  even  from  the 
appearance  of  it.  Mr.  Kelley  desired  a  farm,  then  cov- 
ered with  forest,  and  much  benefited  by  the  location  of 
the  Columbus  feeder,  but  would  not  enter  into  any  nego- 
tiations for  it  until  the  canal  was  completed.  The  pur- 
chase was  then  made,  and  the  farm  is  now  owned  by  a 
member  of  his  family.  He  retired  also  with  a  constitu- 
tion permanently  impaired  by  exposure,  fatigue,  and  ex- 
cessive labor,  in  the  discharge  of  his  official  duties.  He 
devoted  more  than  ten  years  to  this,  all  things  consid- 
ered, the  greatest  enterprise  of  the  State.  And  so  long 
as  the  waters  of  Lake  Erie  and  the  Ohio  River  are  con- 
nected, and  even  if  the  canal  be  superseded  by  other  im- 
provements, so  long  as  its  history  is  preserved,  the  name 
of  Alfred  Kelley  will  be  held  in  grateful  remembrance. 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 


CHAPTER   YIII. 

POLITICAL    SERVICES. 

Removal  to  Columbus. — Election  to  the  Legislature  in  1836. — 
Services. — Re-election  in  1 837. — The  State  Debt. — Chairman  of  the 
Finance  Committee. — Imprisonment  for  debt  abolished. — Polit- 
cal  corruption  of  the  times. — Call  for  a  Whig  General  Conven- 
tion.— Picturesque  scenes. — Entertaining  delegates. 


In  October,  1830,  Mr.  Kelley  removed  -with  his  family 
to  Columbus,  where  he  resided  the  remainder  of  his  life. 
In  1836  he  was  elected  to  represent  Franklin  County  in 
the  Legislature.  He  was,  as  such  representative,  prin- 
cipally engaged  in  opposing  injudicious  legislation,  and 
in  endeavoring  to  protect  the  State,  as  far  as  practicable, 
against  engaging  in  works  of  doubtful  utility  and  incur- 
ring pecuniary  loss. 

During  the  session  he  offered  a  resolution  directing 
the  Committee  on  Schools  and  School  Lands  to  introduce 
a  bill  providing  for  the  appointment  of  a  State  School 
Commissioner  and  prescribing  his  duties.  The  resolu- 
tion was  adopted  and  a  bill  introduced  which  became  a 
law,  under  which  the  management  of  our  public  schools 
was  made  a  part  of  the  State  government,  and  was  sys- 
temized  and  rendered  efficient. 

It  will  be  remembered  that,  in  the  winter  of  1819-20, 
Mr.  Kelley  introduced  a  bill  to  "  abolish  imprisonment 
for  debt."     He  was  in  advance  of  public  sentiment,  and 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

the  measure,  though  just  and  humane,  failed  to  become  a 
law.  It  had  had  no  advocates  in  the  meantime,  and  slept 
until  this  session,  a  period  of  seventeen  years,  when  he 
introduced  it  again.  Its  passage  was  contested,  and  it 
finally  went  over  to  the  next  Legislature  as  a  part  of  the 
unfinished  business. 

In  1837  Mr.  Kelley  and  Robert  Neil  were  elected  to 
represent  the  county  of  Franklin  in  the  Legislature. 
The  service  he  rendered  to  the  State,  at  this  session  also, 
consisted  mainly  in  endeavoring  to  prevent  injurious  leg- 
islation and  an  increase  of  the  public  debt.  He  made  a 
special  efi*ort  to  prevent  abuses  which  had  grown  up 
under  a  law  of  the  previous  year,  authorizing  a  loan  of 
the  credit  of  the  State  to  railroads,  canals,  and  turnpikes. 
The  law  contained  provisions  which,  if  they  had  been  en- 
forced by  the  officers  intrusted  with  its  administration, 
would  have  effectually  protected  the  State  against  any 
loss.  These  provisions  were  neglected,  and  companies 
wrongfully  obtained  from  the  State  large  sums  of  money. 
During  the  pendency  of  a  bill  which  was  calculated  to 
prevent  frauds  on  the  part  of  the  officers  and  companies, 
Mr.  Kelley  said: 

"He  believed,  in  a  pecuniary  point  of  view,  the  State  was 
trembling  on  the  brink  of  ruiu.  If  the  law  was  not  repealed 
or  modified,  bankruptcy  would  ensue.  Under  the  law,  in  one 
year,  the  State  has  been  made  liable  for  a  million  and  a  quar- 
ter of  dollars,  and  preparations  were  in  progress  for  an  in- 
crease of  three,  four,  or  five  mil]i(ms.  There  were  no  limits. 
.  .  .  We  were  on  the  brink  of  a  precipice,  and  unless  we 
acted  speedily,  we  were  entirely  lost." 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

His  warning  was  not  heeded,  and  the  history  of  the 
State  finances  in  1841-2,  and  a  report  made  in  1845  by 
a  commission  appointed  for  that  purpose,  establish,  by 
conclusive  evidence,  the  literal  truth  of  his  averments. 

Near  the  close  of  the  session,  as  chairman  of  the 
finance  committee,  he  made  an  important  report,  in  which 
he  grouped  together  the  facts  connected  with  the  State 
debt,  its  rapid  increase,  and  the  deficiency  in  the  rev- 
enue, and  demonstrated  that  when  the  accounts  were 
made  clearly  intelligible  a  part  of  the  interest  had  been 
paid  by  borrowing  money  from  other  funds.  Although 
these  facts  were  forcibly  presented,  the  Legislature  did 
not  appreciate  them  to  such  an  extent  as  to  adopt  any 
decided  measures  to  reduce  expenditures  or  increase  the 
revenue.  He  also  directed  the  attention  of  the  Legisla- 
ture to  the  imperfect  mode  of  keeping  the  public  ac- 
counts, the  pernicious  consequences  of  which  were  fully 
developed  a  few  years  later. 

At  this  session  Mr.  Kelley's  purpose,  long  enter- 
tained and  persistently  urged  while  he  was  a  member,  of 
abolishing  imprisonment  for  debt,  was  accomplished ;  and 
from .  that  time  forward  no  honest  debtor  has  been  im- 
prisoned for  inability  to  pay  his  creditors.  This  humane 
act  encountered  opposition  and  adverse  votes  at  this  late 
period.  Reforms  are  of  slow  growth,  and  require  much 
patience  and  persistence  for  their  accomplishment. 

At  this  time  Martin  Van  Buren  was  President.  Un- 
der his  administration,  and  under  that  of  his  predecessor, 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work, 

though   both  were    professedly  reformers,  there    was  a 
great  loss  of  public  money,  and  the  military  aphorism — 
"to  the  victors  belong  the  spoils" — was  announced,  by 
one  of  their  partisans  in  the  Senate,  as  applicable  to  the 
result  of  an  election,  and  was  acted  upon  by  them  as  a 
political  principle.     An  election  was  thus  converted  into 
a  mere  scramble  for  oflSce  and  the  control  of  the  public 
funds,  and   this    principle — or  want   of  principle — cor- 
rupted every  one  who  adopted  it.     At  this  stage  of  our 
political  history  this  doctrine  was   odious  to  a  majority 
of  the  people ;  and,  although  the   two    adipinistrations 
just  mentioned  had  maintained  their  ascendancy  mainly 
by  paying  for  partisan  services  with  the  emoluments  of 
office,  still  the  public  had  not  become  so  demoralized  and 
corrupted  by  it  as  not  to  appreciate  its  wickedness,  to  a 
degree  at  least.     Many  disclosures   were    made   which 
were  startling,  and  near  the  close  of  the  year  1839  the 
public  mind  became  very  much  excited. 

The  Whig  convention  of  Ohio  had  been  held  gener- 
ally, if  not  uniformly,  on  tbe  22d  of  February,  and  in 
the  city  of  Columbus.  And  although,  at  that  season,  the 
weather  was  usually  inclement,  and  the  roads  almost  im- 
passable, still  a  convention  could  be  held  without  much 
inconvenience,  if  composed  of  a  limited  number  of  dele- 
gates. The  Legislature  and  the  Supreme  Court  were  in 
session  at  that  time,  and  those  attending  them  generally 
acted  also  as  such  delegates.  This  year,  however,  the 
disclosures  at  Washington  were  so  alarming  that  the 
pressure  was  very  strong  for  a  general  convention ;  and 
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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work, 

the  State  Central  Committee,  in  pursuance  of  public  sen- 
timent, issued  a  call  written  by  Mr.  Kelley,  who  was  its 
chairman,  and  which  contains  the  following  moving 
appeal : 

"  Whatever  may  have  been  the  individual  opinions  of  the 
State  Central  Committee  as  to  the  propriety  of  calling  to- 
gether numerous  delegations  from  the  several  counties,  at  a 
season  of  the  year  usually  cold  and  inclement,  they  considered 
it  their  duty  not  to  dictate,  but  to  obey,  the  public  voice. 
To  the  true  friends  of  their  country,  to  the  descendants  of 
those  patriots  of  the  revolution  who,  unclad  and  unshod, 
braved  the  winter  storms  of  1780,  marking  the  line  of  the 
march  with  the  blood  of  their  lacerated  feet,  for  whom  the 
canopy  of  heaven  formed  a  tent,  the  frozen  earth  a  bed,  and 
the  fleecy  snow  their  only  covering — to  the  children  of  such 
fathers,  we  say,  '  Come  up  once  more  to  the  rescue  of  your 
country,  rally  once  more  under  the  standard  of  the  veteran 
who  so  often  in  days  by-gone  led  his  troops  to  victory,  and 
with  him  at  your  head,  march  forward  to  the  reform  of  the 
reformers — to  despoil  the  spoilers — to  rescue  the  ark  of  the 
Constitution,  and  save  your  beloved  country.'" 

This  call  was  effectual,  and  on  the  22d  of  February, 
1840,  there  was  gathered  in  the  capital  of  Ohio  the  most 
enthusiastic  and  imposing  political  convention  which  had 
been  held  in  the  country  since  the  organization  of  the 
government.  In  the  winter,  and  in  a  rainy  season,  when 
the  roads  were  almost  impassable,  the  people  of  the  State 
in  masses  thronged  toward  the  capital.  From  the  re- 
mote parts  of  the  State  the  delegates  were  five  or  six 
days  on  the  way.  In  the  North-west,  Fort  Meigs  was 
rebuilt  in  miniature  and  brought  down  on  a  wagon. 
From  Cleveland  a  full-rigged  brig,  and  from  the  West  a 
small  cabin,  were  conveyed   in  the  same  mode.     The  de- 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  Ms  Life  and  Work. 

vices  illustrative  of  the  life  of  General  Harrison  were 
innumerable.  The  editor  of  a  Washington  paper  referred 
to  the  General  as  better  fitted  for  a  cabin  with  a  barrel 
of  hard  cider  than  for  President  and  the  White 
House,  which  made  the  cabin  and  the  cider  barrel  very 
prominent  at  the  meeting  and  during  the  subsequent 
canvass. 

This  convention  was  composed  of  all  classes.  Old 
and  young,  professional  men,  business  men,  farmers,  me- 
chanics, and  laborers,  all  vied  with  each  other  in  showing 
respect  to  General  Harrison,  who  "  held  the  offices  but 
never  took  the  spoils."  During  the  convention  enough 
campaign  songs  were  composed  to  make  a  small  volume, 
which  was  circulated  throughout  the  country. 

About  sixty  of  the  Cleveland  delegates  were  enter- 
tained at  Mr.  Kelley's  house.  There  was  no  difficulty  in 
furnishing  meals,  but  to  lodge  them  required  some  con- 
trivance. One  of  his  daughters  suggested,  as  a  solution 
of  the  difficulty,  that  a  feather  bed  should  be  placed  in 
the  middle  of  a  carpeted  library  and  used  as  a  pillow  by 
the  occupants,  whose  feet  would  point  outward  from  it  as 
a  center.  A  large  number  were  thus  accommodated,  so 
that  when  lying  down  they  resembled  a  star. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  city  all  joined  in  extending 
hospitality  to  the  strangers,  and  the  streets  were  pa- 
trolled at  night,  that  no  one  might  fail  to  be  accommo- 
dated. 

The  platform,  consisting  of  a  series  of  resolutions,  the 
most  material  portion  of  which  Mr.  Kelley  prepared  in 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  Ms  Life  and  Work. 

advance,  formed  the  basis  of  the  proceedings  of  all  the 
subsequent  conventions  held  in  other  States.  The  result 
of  the  election,  in  the  fall,  was  in  accordance  with  this 
most  auspicious  opening  of  the  campaign. 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

MR.  KELLEY  AS  A  FINANCIER. 

Financial  distrust  in  1840.— Mr.  Kelley  appointed  Canal  Fund 
Commissioner. — The  State  embarrassed. — Borrowing  money  in 
England. — Mr.  Kelley's  course. — The  honor  of  the  State  at 
stake. — Danger  of  repudiation. — A  crisis. — Mr.  Kelley's  courage 
and  skill. 


In  the  fall  of  1840  Thomas  Corwin  was  elected  Gov- 
ernor of  Ohio.  The  State  and  the  Nation  were  then 
passing  through  a  period  of  financial  embarrassment 
equal  to  any  in  the  previous  history  of  either.  The 
moneyed  institutions,  the  currency,  and  the  State*  and 
National  credit  were  distrusted ;  and,  although  there  was 
much,  and  perhaps  an  abundance  of  money,  few  were 
willing  or  courageous  enough  to  invest  in  State,  National, 
or  individual  securities. 

This  general  condition  of  the  finances  and  business  of 
the  country  had  a  specific  efi*ect  upon  Ohio.  The  extra- 
ordinary success  of  its  two  original  canals  naturally  cre- 
ated a  desire  for  similar  improvements  in  other  parts  of 
the  State.  And  during  the  inflation  which  preceded  the 
collapse  referred  to,  such  improvements  were  adopted 
and  the  work  on  them  commenced.  When  the.  crash 
came  the  State  was  necessarily  embarrassed.  It  was 
difiicult  to  sell  its  bonds,  and  the  Commissioners  of  the 
Canal  Fund,  in  their  struggles  to  preserve  the  credit  of 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

the  State,  were  constrained  to  borrow  from  the  interest 
fund  of  the  original  canals,  and  from  other  public  funds, 
to  pay  present  and  pressing  liabilities.  In  the  midst  of 
this  general  distrust  and  embarrassment,  and  on  the 
30th  of  March,  1841,  Mr.  Kelley  was  appointed  by  the 
Governor  one  of  the  Canal  Fund  Commissioners,  in  the 
place  of  Gustavus  Swan,  who  then  resigned. 

As  we  are  now  about  to  enter  upon  one  of  the  most 
interesting  periods  in  the  history  of  Ohio,  and  one 
of  the  most  important  acts  of  Mr.  Kelley's  life,  it  is  not 
best  to  rely  upon  general  statements  alone  as  to  the  con- 
dition of  the  State,  and  the  circumstances  surrounding 
him,  at  the  time,  when  there  are  public  and  other  docu- 
ments which  afford  abundant  evidence  on  the  subject. 
The  reports  of  the  Board  immediately  preceding  exhibit 
clearly  the  unsettled  state  of  the  money  markets  at  home 
and  abroad. 

In  January,  1840,  Joseph  S.  Lake  and  Daniel  Kil- 
gore,  in  a  report,  state  that  in  July  of  the  previous 
year  one  of  their  number  by  order  of  the  Board  went  to 
Eagland,  "to  negotiate  the  sale  of  State  stocks;"  that 
"  all  efforts  at  home  to  raise  money  "  had  proved  inef- 
fectual ;  and  "  as  the  last  alternative  "  the  Board  consid- 
ered it  "  their  duty  to  try  a  foreign  market  rather  than 
jeopardize  the  interests  and  credit  of  the  State  by  non- 
payment to  the  contractors  on  the  several  public  works." 

The  commissioner  found  American  securities  "  much 
depressed,"  and  he  concealed  his  mission  until  Oc- 
tober when   he  was  able  to  arrange  a  loan  of  30,000 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

pounds — secured  by  the  pledge  of  unrestricted  stock. 
With  the  proceeds  of  this  loan,  and  by  a  transfer  to  the 
interest  fund,  "  the  commissioners  were  enabled  to  meet 
the  total  interest  due  to  stockholders  in  New  York  on 
the  first  of  January,  1840,  thereby  fully  sustaining  the 
high  character  and  credit  of  the  State."  On  the  5th  of 
January,  1841,  the  commissioners,  Joseph  S.  Lake,  G. 
Swan,  and  N.  H.  Swayne,  in  their  report,  say : 

''Some  disappoiiitmeDt  has  also  bep.n  experienced, 'not  only 
in  the  collection  of  balances  due  the  State,  but  in  the  sale  of 
stocks  in  Europe  and  at  home.  The  unsettled  condition  of 
affairs  in  Europe,  reacting  upon  that  of  Atlantic  cities  in 
our  own  country,  has  co-operated  with  the  confusion  in  the 
currency  of  our  own  and  the  neighboring  States  to  embarrass 
credit,  and  to  render  capitalists,  every-where,  cautious  in 
seeking  permanent  investments. 

"The  commissioners  take  leave  most  respectfully  to  suggest 
that  under  the  present  limitations  it  is  extremely  doubtful 
whether  the  necessary  means  for  the  completion  of  the  public 
works  now  in  progress  can  be  obtained  either  at  home  or 
abroad 

"  It  would  be  unsafe  to  rely  upon  sales  of  six  per  cent 
stocks  at  par  to  meet  the  expenses  of  the  public  works. 
There  is  at  present  no  market,  within  the  knowledge  of  the 
commissioners,  where  an  amount  could  thus  be  sold  approxi- 
mating that  necessary  for  their  completion." 

On  March  2,  1841,  the  commissioners  say : 

"  We  are  satisfied  that  stocks  to  an  amount  sufficient  to 
meet  the  public  exigencies  during  the  present  year  cannot  be 
sold  without  great  sacrifices. 

"  The  prospect  of  further  sales  of  stock,  to  any  considerable 
amount  upon  reasonable  terms,  sedms  to  be  at  an  end.  The 
condition  of  the  money  market  at  home  and  abroad,  the  un- 
settled state  of  things  in  Europe,  the  amount  of  American 
securities  in  the  market,  the  condition  of  the  banking  insti- 
tutions of  the  country,  and-the  continued  action  in  the  public 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

mind  to  a  considerable  extent  in  regard  to  them,  all  forbid 
the  hope  that  this  prospect  will  be  materially  better  within 
the  present  season,  or  indeed  subsequently,  until  the  existing 
state  of  things  shall  have  yielded  to  those  influences  which, 
however  favorable  other  circumstances,  time  is  indispensable 
to  bring  about." 

It  thus  appearing  to  be  impossible  to  procure  money 
by  the  sale  of  stocks  in  Europe  or  our  Eastern  market, 
and  the  necessities  of  the  State  being  such  as  to  forbid 
delay,  at  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Kelley  a  circular  was  ad- 
dressed on  the  3d  of  April  to  each  of  the  Ohio  banks, 
inviting  propositions  for  the  purchase  of  permanent 
stock,  and  if  that  should  be  declined,  for  temporary 
loans.  No  favorable  replies  were  received  except  from 
the  Franklin  Bank  of  Columbus  and  the  Bank  of  Chilli- 
cothe.  In  pursuance  of  these  replies  a  loan  of  $500,000 
was  obtained  from  the  Franklin  Bank  on  the  first  day 
of  April,  and  on  the  19th  of  April  a  loan  of  $581,000 
from  the  Chillicothe  Bank ;  each  loan  was  made  at  six 
per  cqnt  interest,  with  the  interest  payable  at  the  State 
treasury  and  the  principal  in  New  York.  With  the 
amounts  thus  obtained  the  State  was  able  to  meet  its 
accrued  liabilities  upon  the  public  works  and  its  July 
interest. 

The  demands  from  contractors  and  other  sources  were 
continually  arising,  and  were  a  continual  drain  upon  the 
entire  canal  fund ;  so  that  at  the  end  of  the  fiscal  year, 
November  15,  1841,  the  "  balance  in  treasurer's  hands  " 
was  $1,393.33J.  The  interest  due  on  the  first  of  Janu- 
ary, 1842,  was  over  $400,000 ;  and  near  that  time  tem- 

104 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

porary  loans  matured,  amounting  to  $300,000.  Between 
the  15th  of  November  and  the  1st  of  January,  additional 
funds  were  received,  but  there  was  a  very  large  defi- 
ciency, to  be  supplied  by  borrowing  or  the  sale  of 
stocks. 

At  this  crisis,  and  a  considerable  time  before  the  1st 
of  January,  Mr.  Kelley  was  in  New  York  for  the  pur- 
pose of  paying  these  liabilities.  The  credit  and  honor 
of  the  State  depended  upon  his  success.  In  addition  to 
what  has  been  hereinbefore  stated,  it  is  necessary,  in 
order  to  appreciate  his  surroundings,  to  recall  the  fact 
tha.t  "  several  of  the  States,  including  some  of  the  old- 
est, failed  to  pay  the  interest  on  their  public  debts,  and 
the  General  Government  itself  found  it  impossible  to 
raise  money  to  meet  the  pressing  demands  on  its  treas- 
ury," and  the  State  of  Mississippi  had  repudiated  a  por- 
tion of  her  debt.  These  facts  affected  the  market  gen- 
erally. 

On  the  10th  of  December  Colonel  N.  H.  Swayne, 
then  one  of  the  commissioners,  writing  from  Columbus, 


"I  am  greatly  alarmed  by  what  you  say  in  regard  to  the 
prospect  of  raising  means  to  pay  our  interest.  Stocks  dull  at 
75  !  The  London  agents  forbidden  to  make  advances  !  The 
banks  pressing  for  the  payment  of  their  temporary  loans! 
Money  tight  beyond  example,  panic  and  paralysis  universally 
prevalent,  every  thing  covered  with  gloom  and  despondency, 
and  tending  downward  to  the  lowest  point. 

*'It  is  a  crisis  calculated  to  quail  the  stoutest  heart." 

Above  all  this  there  was  a  special  influence  brought 

105 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

to  bear  upon  this  State  which  tended  to  impair  its  credit 
and  defeat  every  effort  of  its  officers.  The  Legislature 
assembled  on  the  first  Monday  in  December,  and  from 
the  commencement  of  the  session  there  was  an  open  and 
avowed  purpose,  on  the  part  of  many  members,  to  de- 
stroy all  the  banking  institutions  of  the  State,  and  to 
repudiate  a  portion,  at  least,  of -the  State  debt.  One  of 
the  leading  papers  at  the  capital  was  in  sympathy  with 
this  purpose.  The  disgraceful  proposition  of  repudia- 
tion was  gaining  such  favor,  and  becoming  so  dangerous, 
that  the  Speaker  of  the  House,  (the  Hon.  Rufus  P. 
Spalding),  on  the  21st  of  December,  came  down  from 
his  desk  and  offered  the  following  preamble  and  resolu- 
tions : 

^^  Whereas,  an  opinion  has  become  prevalent  that  the  inde- 
pendent States  of  the  Union  \^ill,  at  some  future  period,  re- 
pudiate the  payment  of  the  debts  by  them  respectively  con- 
tracted with  capitalists,  both  in  Europe  and  America;  and 
whereas,  such  an  opinion  is  at  variance  with  every  principle 
of  patriotism,  morality,  and  even  of  common  honesty:  There- 
fore, 

''Be  it' resolved  by  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State  of  Ohio^ 
That  a  just  sense  of  right,  independent  of  the  high  claims  of 
her  citizens  to  a  character  distinguished  for  honor  and  integ- 
rity, should  effectually  preclude  our  great  State  from  enter- 
taining the  crude  notion  of  absolving  herself  from  the  claims 
of  her  creditors  by  the  mere  exertion  of  sovereign  power. 

Resolved,  as  the  sense  of  this  General  Assembly,  that  the 
citizens  of  Ohio  respect  the  sanctity  of  their  engagements, 
whether  of  a  public  or  private  nature,  and  will  at  all  times 
be  found  willing  to  pay  the  principal  and  interest  of  all  debts 
by  their  State  Government  fairly  and  lawfully  contracted." 

The  preamble  and  resolutions  were  adopted  by  the 
House  on  the  day  they  were  introduced,  only  six  mem- 

106 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

bers  voting  in  the  negative.  They  were  afterward  ma- 
terially amended  in  the  Senate  and  in  the  House,  and  in 
the  latter  body  were  laid  upon  the  table  by  a  vote  of  48 
to  34,  and  were  not  afterward  acted  upon.  On  the  same 
day  (December  21st)  the  following  preamble  and  resolu- 
tions were  offered : 

^^  Whereas,  an  opinion  extensively  prevails  that,  in  contract- 
ing a  portion  of  the  public  debt  of  this  State,  the  faith  of  this 
State  has  been  arrogantly  and  unlawfully  pledged  to  certain 
corporations  within  her  borders,  for  a  continuance  for  years 
of  the  powers  whose  existence  and  abuse  have  inflicted  incal- 
culable evils  upon  the  community  :    Therefore,  be  it 

'^Resolved,  that  the*  faith  of  this  State,  so  pledged,  be  and 
the  same  is  hereby  repudiated." 

The  vote  on  this  proposition  was  29  yeas  and  41  nays. 

On  the  21st  of  December,  an  article  appeared  in  the 
New  York  Journal  of  Commerce^  a  part  of  which  is  as 
follows : 

''  'Correspondence  of  the  Journal  of  Commerce'  being  a  let- 
ter from  Columbus,  Ohio,  and  dated  December  14,  1841,  in 
which  it  is  stated  that: 

"  '  The  Senate  of  Ohio  has  directed,  by  a  strict  party  vote — 
19  to  17 — the  appointment  of  a  standing  committee  on  the 
public  debt,  whose  province  it  is  to  inquire  into  the  origin, 
rise,  and  progress  of  the  present  enormous  debt  of  about 
$17,000,000,  under  which  the  State  now  groans.'  That  one 
Senator,  Mr.  Leonard,  in  the  animated  debate  which  arose 
on  the  question  of  appointing  this  committee,  stated  '  that 
rumors  had  been  prevalent  that  the  books  of  the  State  Fund 
Commissioners  would  not  balance  by  $500,000,  and  that  it 
was  due  to  the  credit  of  the  State  and  to  the  character  of  the 
Fund  Commissioners  that  such  rumors  should  be  put  at  rest 
forever,  or  the  truth  demonstrated  by  authority.  These  ru- 
mors, I  have  been  told,  were  in  circulation  last  year,  and 
apply  to  the  late  Fund  Commissioners.  Of  their  truth  or 
falsity  I  have  no  means  of  forming  a  correct  judgment.'" 

107 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

Mr.  Taylor,  another  Senator,  in  the  same  letter  is  re- 
ported as  stating  as  a  reason  for  the  appointment  of  the 
committee,  "  that  the  question  of  repealing  the  debts 
OF  THE  States  had  already  been  seriously  mooted  in 
more  than  one  member  of  the  confederacy,  and  that  the 
frauds  complained  of  elsewhere  where  were  not  rare,  even 
in  the  history  of  the  finances  of  Ohio."  The  writer  says 
he  was  told,  by  those  who  were  well  informed  on  the  sub- 
ject, that  the  Senator  had  reference  to  "  certain  acts  of 
the  Fund  Commissioners  (of  whom  Alfred  Kelley  is  the 
'  head  and  front ')  by  which  they  borrowed  large  sums  of 
the  Franklin  Bank  of  Columbus  and  the  Bank  of  Chilli- 
cothe,"  etc.  The  writer  then  adds,  "  that  the  committee, 
in  the  course  of  its  investigations,  may  discover  trans- 
actions far  more  iniquitous,  and  far  more  in  contraven- 
tion of  law,  than  these  to  which  I  have  alluded  above." 

The  Ohio  Statesman,  of  December  28,  1841,  said  on 
the  same  subject : 

"  Such  is  the  bankrupt,  starving  condition  of  the  State  and 
her  laborers,  brought  about  by  one  year  of  Whig  misrule  and 
bank  swindling." 

Mr.  Kelley's  appreciation  of  the  crisis  and  of  his  re- 
sponsibility, together  with  his  purpose  with  reference  to 
them,  may  be  more  fully  appreciated  by  some  extracts 
from  his  letters  to  his  wife.  On  the  25th  of  December 
he  wrote  as  follows : 

"It  is  now  evening,  and  I  have  spent  any  thiug  but  a 
merry  day.     Never  before  in  my  life  have  I  been  placed  in  a 

108 


Alfred  Kelley ;  Ms  Life  and  Work. 

situation  so  peculiarly  difficult  and  embarrassing.  We  have 
upward  of  three  hundred  thousand  dollars  to  provide,  against 
the  third  day  of  January,  and  as  yet  I  do  not  know  positively 
where  more  than  eighty  or  ninety  thousand  of  it  is  to  be  ob- 
tained. We  are  trying  to  make  arrangements  and  have 
hopes  of  effecting  them.  But  we  have  not  yet  the  certainty. 
While  every  thing  here  has  been  of  the  most  disheartening 
character — money  scarce,  want  of  confidence  in  all  kinds  of 
securities,  stocks  falling,  money  dealers  panic-stricken,  some 
wretch,  in  whom  is  concentrated  the  essence  of  malignity,  has 
written  a  letter  over  a  feigned  name,  or  the  name  of  some 
unknown  individual,  intimating  that  the  Commissioners  of 
the  Canal  Fund  had  exceeded  their  powers,  that  their  ac- 
counts would  not  balance  by  five  hundred  thousand  dollars, 
and  that  there  was  reason  to  apprehend  that  they  had  been 
guilty  of  still  grosser  frauds,  and  that  the  State  might  refuse 
to  pay  debts  of  their  contracting,  and  this  infernal  letter  is 
published  in  one  of  the  principal  daily  papers  of  this  city. 

"Thus while  I  am  here  making  almost  super-human  ef- 
forts— using  my  personal  influence,  pledging  my  individual  re- 
sponsibility to  raise  money  to  pay  the  interest  on  the  State 
debt,  to  preserve  her  faith  and  her  credit  untarnished — some 
debased  wretch,  some  degraded  son  of  Ohio  for  the  sake  of 
thwarting  and  embarrassing  me  to  gratify  his  personal  or  po- 
litical enmity,  is  willing  to  make  a  stab  at  the  honor  of  the 
State  and  cause  her  a  serious  pecuniary  loss.  True,  this  in- 
famous libel  was  soon  contradicted  in  the  same  print,  but 
slander  flies  on  eagle  wings,  while  truth  creeps  slowly  after  on 
the  back  of  a  snail. 

*'  We  hope  to  know  on  Monday  or  Tuesday  what  we  can 
do — what  we  must  do.  That  we  shall  be  compelled  to  raise 
money  at  a  great  sacrifice  I  have  no  doubt,  and  I  hope  that 
one  good  at  least  will  grow  out  of  the  evil — that  the  Legis- 
lature and  the  people  will  at  least  be  convinced  of  what  I  told 
them  long  ago,  that  they  must  curtail  their  expenditures  or 

10^ 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

be  bankrupt.     They  are  now  at  the  end  of  their  tether  and 
can  go  no  further." 

On  the  first  of  January,  1842,  and  after  he  had  learned 
who  wrote  the  letter  to  the  Journal  of  Commerce,  he 
said : 

"  Though  far  from  being  happy  myself,  because  far 
from  those  I  love  best,  still  I  am  much  more  happy  than  I 
was  on  Christmas  day.  Then  I  could  not  see  where  the 
money  was  to  come  from  to  pay  the  interest  on  the  State 
debt ;  now  I  can  see  where  nearly  all  of  it  is  to  come  from, 
and  have  no  doubt,  among  several  expedients  to  raise  the 
balance,  some  of  them  will  prove  efficient. 

''  Never  before  was  I  placed  in  such  a  trying  and  responsi- 
ble situation — surrounded  with  difficulties  nearly  insurmount- 
able in  themselves,  and  greatly  increased  by  the  fiend-like 
machinations  of  enemies  who  for  the  sake  of  thwarting  me 
would  willingly  see  the  State  disgraced.  I  felt  it  almost  im- 
possible to  accomplish  the  object  committed  to  our  care,  and 
at  the  same  time  to  move  heaven  and  earth  rather  than  suffer 
myself  to  be  foiled,  my  enemies  to  exult  in  my  defeat,  and, 
what  is  more,  the  great  State  of  Ohio  to  be  forever  dis. 
graced. 

"A  vile  incendiary  may  set  fire  to  the  most  splendid  edifice — 
it  requires  no  talents  to  work  destruction,  and  the  poor 
wretches  whose  malice  has  thrown  such  obtacles  in  our  way 
may  exult  as  a  moth  that  has  eaten  holes  in  a  costly  garment. 
A  foreigner  who  has  been  received  into  the  bosom  of  a  hos- 
pitable state,  may  have  the  demoniac  satisfaction  of  knowing 
that  he  has,  like  the  viper  in  the  fable,  stung  the  bosom  that 
warmed  him  into  life  ;  but,  thank  Heaven,  he  can  not  have 
the  satisfaction  of  defeating  me  in  the  main  object,  that  of 
saving  uninjured  the  honor  of  my  beloved,  though  ungrateful, 
State.     But  for  my  unwearied  exertions,  prompt  and  ener- 

110 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

getic  actioD,  and  the  confidence  which  I  believe  is  felt  in  my 
individual  energy  and  responsibility,  and  a  sincere  desire  on 
the  part  of  some  of  the  most  influential  moneyed  men  here  to 
aid  me,  I  do  not  believe  we  could  have  succeeded." 

Such  were  some,  but  by  no  means  all,  of  the  obstacles 
which  it  was  necessary  to  overcome  in  obtaining  money 
for  the  State,  and  to  save  its  honor.  Though  compara- 
tively meager,  they  will  materially  aid  in  appreciating 
the  following  extracts  from  what  was  commenced  as  an 
obituary  notice  of  Mr.  Kelley,  by  his  intimate  and  valued 
friend,  the  Hon.  Gustavus  Swan,  but  which  grew  on  his 
hands  beyond  the  limits  he  originally  prescribed,  and 
contains  much  that  is  interesting  in  relation  to  this 
critical  period  in  the  history  of  the  State.  The  Judge 
had  been  a  Fund  Commissioner  immediately  before,  was 
reappointed  in  1842,  and  was  therefore  familiar  with  the 
embarrassments  and  peculiar  circumstances  attending 
the  payment  of  the  accruing  temporary  loans,  and  that 
installment  of  interest  on  the  public  debt.  He  had 
reason  to  know  and  to  watch  the  proceedings  of  the 
Legislature,  its  effect  upon  the  markets,  and  the  influ- 
ence upon  public  opinion.  He  devoted  much  of  his 
time  during  the  session  to  endeavoring  to  prevent  per- 
nicious legislation,  and  to  procuring  such  as  would  bene- 
fit the  State.  What  occurred  was  fresh  in  his  mind,  and 
he  referred,  with  feeling,  to  the  attacks  upon  the  credit 
of  the  State,  and  the  risks  incurred  by  his  friend. 

Ill 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 


CHAPTER  X. 

REPUDIATION   REPUDIATED. 

Judge  Swan's  testimony  to  Mr.  Kelley's  services  at  this 
crisis. — A  stormy  outlook. — Mr.  Kelley's  personal  liabilities. — 
His  letter  to  the  Ohio  State  JoMyna/.— Repudiation  repudiated. — 
Mr.  Kelley's  triumph. —  His  financial  mission  to  Europe. 


*'  Great  as  the  debt  undoubtedly  is  which  the  citizens  of 
the  State  owe  to  Mr.  Kelley  for  his  long  and  faithful  legisla- 
tive labors,  it  is  small,  even  insignificant,  in  comparison  to 
that  due  him  for  other  services,  services  of  which  no  evidence 
is  preserved  in  the  public  archives,  and  which  are  only  known, 
in  their  full  extent,  to  a  very  limited  number  of  his  survivors. 
It  is  a  fact,  however,  still  susceptible  of  proof  by  living  wit- 
nesses, that  his  exertions  and  personal  sacrifices,  with  but 
little  aid  from  others,  mved  the  State  from  repudiation. 

"  This  is  not  the  proper  occasion  for  fully  investigating  the 
causes  which,  at  more  regular  periods  than  meet  the  common 
observation,  produce  revulsions  in  commerce  and  business, 
and  which  involve  the  speculator,  the  extravagant,  the  pur- 
blind, and  all  who  make  too  much  haste  to  become  rich,  in 
disappointment,  distress,  and  bankruptcy.  Certain  it  is,  the 
most  alarming  revulsion  this  country  ever  witnessed,  since 
its  revolutionary  struggle,  transpired  between  the  years  1836 
and  1842,  and  perhaps  another  year  might  be  added  to  the 
culmination. 

**  The  exact  period  of  these  monetary  revulsions,  like  those 
of  comets  from  disturbing  influences,  is  difiicult  of  rigorous 
calculation.  They  are  generally,  however,  preceded  by  a 
sudden  rise  and  followed  by  a  sudden  fall  in  prices,  and  the 
fever  produced  by  the  one  and  the  torpor  left  by  the  other 
are  equally  fatal  to  the  permanent  prosperity  of  the  country. 

"To  get  in  and  out  of  pecuniary  embarrassment,  and  to 
indulge  at  one  time  in  reckless  extravagances,  and  at  another 
to  practice  the  most  rigid  economy,  seem  to  be  the  fate  of 

112 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

our  countrymen.  At  the  period  under  consideration,  the 
people  had  mistaken  the  appearance  of  prosperity,  arising 
in  part  if  not  exclusively  from  a  redundant  circulating 
medium,  then,  as  often,  without  sufficient  basis  for  permanent 
security  for  the  reality,  and  had  engaged  in  extreme  enter- 
prises, promising  little  public  benefit  and  scarcely  any  return 
upon  the  outlay.  .  They  were  heedless  of  the  ordinary  signs 
Avhich,  to  the  careful  and  experienced  observer,  indicate  the 
approach  of  these  revolutions  with  as  much  certainty  as  in- 
solvency follows  expenditure  beyond  income,  or  darkness  the 
setting  sun. 

"The  country  was  in  this  condition  when  Mr.  Kelley  re- 
ceived the  appointment  of  Canal  Fund  Commissioner.  He 
was  not  ignorant  of  the  difficulties  and  responsibility,  but 
did  not  probably  anticipate  the  extent  of  the  former  which 
he  had  the  misfortune  to  encounter ;  and,  if  he  had,  it  was 
not  in  his  nature  to  decline  facing  them.  Difficulties  which 
would  deter  most  men  from  accepting  office  or  trust,  if  the 
public  good  required  them  to  be  met  and  overcome,  never 
produced  in  him  a  moment's  hesitation.  His  private  inter- 
ests, his  ease,  were  always  sacrificed  for  the  public  good. 
Such  was  the  principle  of  his  life. 

"  The  public  did  not  rest  satisfied  with  the  two  canals  which 
had  at  first  been  undertaken  and  completed,  but  under  the 
plausible  pretext  that  equality  of  benefits  demanded  further 
extension  of  State  improvements,  other  canals  and  public 
works,  requiring  immense  outlays  for  their  construction,  had 
been  undertaken  and  were  in  progress  and  unfinished,  without 
having  accurately  estimated  their  cost  or  providing  means  for 
their  completion. 

"  No  sufficient  means  had  been  provided  to  meet  these  great 
expenditures,  and  the  further  extension  of  credit  appeared  to 
be  the  chief,  indeed  the  only  reliance.  The  probability  that 
circumstances  might  arise  which  would  render  this  difficult, 
if  not  impossible,  seemed  never  to  have  been  anticipated  by 
the  wild  projectors  of  these  various  schemes. 

"  Mr.  Kelley  had  little  or  nothing  to  do  with  any  of  them 
until  the  difficulties  became  unmanageable  by  those  who  con- 
trolled the  finances,  which  were  in  as  bad  a  state  as  well  could 
be  imagined,  and  required  no  ordinary  talent  to  bring  them 

8  113 


Alfred  Kelley ;  Ms  Life  and  Work. 

out  of  the  derangement  and  confusion  in  which  they  had  be- 
come involved. 

"  The  banks,  from  necessity,  had  suspended  specie  payment, 
and  the  currency,  chiefly  paper,  had  suflfered  great  deprecia- 
tion, or  become  worthless;  confidence  and  credit  were  lost, 
and  the  State,  deeply  involved  in  debt,  and  depending  princi- 
pally upon  borrowing,  was  on  the  verge  of  bankruptcy.  Such 
was  the  panic  and  confusion,  and  such  the  loss  of  confidence 
and  credit,  that  many  of  our  most  intelligent  and  patriotic 
citizens  became  disheartened  and  discouraged,  and  deemed  it 
impossible  to  save  the  State  from  the  stain  and  disgrace  of 
repudiation,  and  warmly  advocated  the  suspension  or  aban- 
donment of  the  unfinished  public  works  which,  they  insisted, 
had  been  imprudently  and  prematurely  begun,  and  could  not 
be  finished  without  involving  the  State  in  hopeless  ruin. 

"  The  finances,  now  in  a  deranged  and  confused  state,  were, 
by  his  coadjutors,  mainly  left  to  his  management  and  control, 
and  fortunately  for  the  State,  its  citizens  and  creditors,  they 
could  not  have  been  committed  to  abler  or  more  faithful 
hands. 

"  In  his  first  official  year,  almost  exclusively  by  his  exer- 
tions, temporary  loans  were  made  to  carry  on  the  unfinished 
public  works  which  had  been  im providently  undertaken,  and 
to  meet  other  urgent  and  pressing  demands,  and  the  character 
of  the  State  for  good  faith  preserved. 

"  When  the  Legislature  convened,  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
year  1841,  there  were  two  members  of  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives who  rendered  themselves  notorious  for  their  hostility 
to  all  corporations,  and  to  all  the  creditors  of  the  State,  urg- 
ing most  vehemently  that  the  proper  and  just  remedy  for  the 
evil  was  the  abrogation  at  once  of  all  the  debts  of  the  State. 
In  short,  they  were  radical  repudiators  in  the  worst  possible 
sense  of  the  term. 

"  How  these  abandoned  persons  contrived  to  obtain  office, 
and  to  gain  an  influence  with  better  men,  is  a  problem  not  of 
easy  solution.  All  that  can  be  said  is  that  the  elective  fran- 
chise, like  other  good  things,  is  occasionally  subject  to  abuse, 
and  the  masses,  like  individuals,  are  not  always  infallible  in 
their  judgment. 

114 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

"They  appeared  to  use  their  greatest  efforts  to  disgrace  the 
State,  and  ruin  its  innocent  creditors.  Their  fury  was  partic- 
ularly directed  against  corporations,  and  especially  moneyed  cor- 
porations. They  gave  tongue,  and  found  not  a  few,  in  and  out 
of  the  Legislature,  following  in  the  rear,  and  not  less  eager  to  be 
in  at  the  death.  They  charged  the  creditors  of  the  State,  one 
and  all,  as  being  a  pack  of  villi  an  s,  and  their  own  officers  con- 
nected with  the  revenue  as  no  better.  As  Mr.  Kelley  stood 
out  prominent  amongst  the  agents  of  the  State,  he  was  pecu- 
liarly the  object  of  their  hatred  and  malignity.  His  effort  to 
save  its  honor  and  protect  its  creditors  was  denounced  as  com- 
plicity to  defraud  it. 

' '  Some  of  the  partisan  prints  published  their  calumnious 
and  incendiary  harangues,  and  with  commendation,  adding 
remarks  of  their  own  of  a  like  character,  or,  if  possible, 
worse. 

*'  The  creditors  of  the  State  became  alarmed  at  what  was 
mistakenly  supposed  to  be  the  general  sentiment  and  policy  of 
the  State.  It  is,  however,-  but  justice  to  say  that  the  majority 
of  the  people  had  full  confidence  in  the  integrity  of  the  offi- 
cers intrusted  with  their  finances,  and  were  ready  to  make  any 
sacrifices  to  preserve  the  credit  and  honor  of  the  State.  This, 
however,  was  less  manifest  then  than  afterward. 

**A  very  great  number  of  private  individuals  had  invested 
their  all  in  our  public  securities,  and  several  of  the  banks 
had  loaned  the  State  more  than  half  their  capital  stock. 
The  contagion  of  their  pernicious  example  spread  amongst 
some  of  the  weaker  members  of  the  General  Assembly,  who 
were  consequently  more  susceptible  of  the  moral  virus,  until 
a  large  minority,  if  not  a  majority  of  the  members,  became 
alarmingly  infected  with  repudiation. 

*'  Under  the  most  inauspicious  circumstances  which  could 
be  well  imagined,  the  most  fearful  crisis  the  State  ever 
encountered  was  approaching  and  had  to  be  met.  No  meas- 
ure was  adopted  or  even  proposed  by  the  General  Assembly 
to  provide  means  to  discharge  the  claims  owing  by  the  State 
and  already  overdue,  or  to  meet  the  interest  on  the  public 
debt.  For  these  purposes  the  officers  had  to  rely  upon  their 
own  exertions  or  the  State  must  fail.     Their  situation  was  ex- 

115 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

tremely  embarrassing,  and  they  did  not  know  well  what  course 
to  pursue  in  the  present  emergency.  The  treasury  was 
empty,  the  stocks  of  the  State  at  a  ruinous  discount,  indeed 
could  not  be  sold  at  any  price,  or  received  in  pledge  for  ad- 
vances ;  public  credit  was  gone,  and  the  only  alternative  pre- 
sented was  either  to  obtain  a  loan  on  personal  security  or  submit 
to  repudiation,  and  the  choice  did  not  admit  of  delay.  All 
hope  of  assistance  from  the  Legislature  had  entirely  ceased. 

*'  His  [Mr.  Kelley's]  resolution  was  fixed,  and  no  danger, 
no  opposing  difficulties,  could  divert  him  from  his  purpose. 
He  was  determined  to  lose  all  or  save  the  State  from  dishonor 
and  its  creditors  from  ruin.  Such  was  the  confidence  re- 
posed in  his  integrity  and  financial  ability,  notwithstanding 
the  underhand  and  atrocious  means  employed  to  defeat  his 
object,  that  he  was  enabled  to  raise,  in  that  city,  when  no 
one  at  the  time  could  have  been  found  there  who  would  have 
intrusted  the  sovereign  State  of  Ohio  with  a  dollar,  nearly 
a  quarter  of  a  million  on  his  own  personal  security ;  and  thus, 
by  his  generous  efforts,  and  by  his  alone,  the  State  was  saved 
from  disgrace,  and  thousands  of  its  creditors,  including  many 
widows  and  orphans,  from  poverty,  distress,  and  ruin. 

"  No  citizen  of  this  State,  few  o*f  any  State  or  country, 
ever  performed  a  more  praiseworthy,  a  nobler  action.  His 
labors,  his  anxiety  and  sufferings,  before  he  succeeded  in  the 
magnanimous  undertaking,  and  one  which  should  be  pre- 
served in  the  memory  of  coming  generations  through  all 
time,  can  only  be  known,  in  their  full  extent  and  measure,  to 
a  few  of  his  survivors  and  probably  to  none  capable  of  doing 
them  full  justice.  Nor  should  it  be  forgotten  that  these 
great  and  valuable  services  were  performed  without  the  smallest 
compensation,  and  all  the  hazard  incurred  without  the  slight- 
est indemnity." 

Mr.  Kelley  was  necessarily  detained  in  New  York  un- 
til some  time  in  February.  While  there  he  received  in- 
formation from  Columbus  which  would  have  disheartened 
a  man  who  was  not  possessed  of  extraordinary  courage 
and  an  indomitable  will. 

On  the  13th  of  January  Judge  Swan  wrote : 

116 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

'*  The  course  of  our  Legislature  and  the  public  prints,  with 
the  fearful  condition  of  affairs  every-where,  is  producing  a 
universal  panic  in  the  mind  of  the  community,  the  end  of 
which  can  not  be  foreseen." 

He  refers  to  a  mob  attacking  banks  in  Cincinnati,  and 
a  determination  to  force  other  banks  into  insolvency ; 
and  then,  after  referring  to  the  "  absolute  ferocity  of 
parties,"  advises  Mr.  Kelley  to  resort  to  all  legal  means 
within  his  power  to  exonerate  himself  "  from  personal 
responsibility  for  the  State." 

On  the  6th  of  January,  The  Statesman  in  an  editorial 


"  This  tinkering  with  the  banks  has  brought  our  State,  as 
it  has  others,  to  a  state  of  bankruptcy  and  discredit  that  is 
gloomy  enough." 

In  his  memorial  Judge  Swan  refers  to  the  proceedings 
in  Columbus  after  the  payment  of  the  interest  in  New 
York  as  follows : 

"  On  his  return  he  discovered  that  many  members  of  the 
General  Assembly  showed  evident  signs  of  regret  and  disap- 
pointment, and  appeared  still  determined  to  suffer  things  to  go 
to  ruin  without  an  effort  to  prevent  the  calamity.  They 
knew  well  that  some  of  the  public  debts  had  been  contracted 
to  pay  others,  and  hence  they  appeared  to  cherish  the  hope 
to  carry  into  effect  their  original  design,  which  was  to  rob  the 
whole  creditors  of  the  State. 

"Mr.  Kelley  found,  on  his  return,  an  unabated  hostility 
by  many  to  all  who  took  an  interest  in  the  preservation  of 
the  public  faith  and  honor." 

Although  the  payment  of  the  interest  on  the  State 
debt  in  January,  1842,  together  with  the  temporary  liabili- 
ties then  maturing,  was  perhaps  the  most  important  event 

117 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

in  the  financial  history  of  Ohio,  it  was  still  necessary,  as 
suggested  by  Judge  Swan,  to  procure  from  a  reluctant 
Legislature  an  act  of  more  personal  consequence  to  Mr. 
Kelley  than  any  thing  which  had  preceded  it,  and  of 
quite  equal  importance  to  the  State.  The  temporary 
loans  must  be  provided  for,  and  their  payment  by  the 
State  could  be  secured  only  by  the  enactment  of  a  law 
for  that  purpose.  Its  terms  must  also  be  broad  enough 
to  include  the  loans  made  upon  his  [Mr.  Kelley's]  per- 
sonal credit. 

Very  soon  after  he  reached  Columbus,  he  met  a  per- 
sonal friend  (Mr.  John  W.  Andrews,  still  living  in  the 
city),  and  informed  him  that  he  had  procured  money  for 
the  State  on  his  individual  credit.  His  friend  replied, 
with  earnestness,  "  that  he  ought  not  to  disclose  that 
fact,  as  the  effect  would  be  mischievous."  A  knowledge 
of  his  personal  liabilities  was  confined  to  a  very  few  con- 
fidential friends. 

On  the  19th  of  February,  1842,  a  bill  was  introduced 
into  the  Senate  authorizing  the  commissioners  to  borrow 
money  in  order  "  to  pay  the  temporary  loans  contracted 
by  said  commissioners  on  behalf  of  the  State  under  the, 
authority  conferred  on  them  by  the  acts  of  March  29, 
1841."  This  restricted  the  payment  to  a  particular  class 
of  loans,  and  it  might  be  doubtful  whether  it  would  have 
embraced  the  loans  of  the  banks  in  this  State. 

The  opposition  to  the  bill  in  that  or  any  other  form 
was  persistent ;  and,  although  before  the  Senate  many 
times,  it  did  not  pass  that  body  until  March  2d. 

118 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

Mr.  Kelley's  opinions  and  acts  and  motives  were  freely 
canvassed  and  grossly  misrepresented  ;  and  on  that  sec- 
ond day  of  March,  in  order  to  inform  the  public  and  the 
Legislature  of  his  relation  to  the  causes  of  the  financial 
embarrassment  of  the  State,  the  remedy,  and  on  whom 
the  responsibility  of  applying  it  then  rested,  he  pub- 
lished the  following  in  the  Ohio  State  Journal: 

"to  the  public. 

"It  frequently  happens  that  a  man  is  made  accountable, 
not  only  for  the  sins  he  actually  commits,  but  for  those  he  has 
endeavored  to  prevent;  not  only  the  consequences  of  his  own 
errors  are  charged  to  his  account,  but  the  consequences  of  the 
acts  of  others  against  which  he  remonstrated.  Such  is  my 
fate  in  regard  to  the  present  financial  embarrassments  of  the 
State. 

"These  embarrassments  are  chiefly,  if  not  entirely,  owing 
to  augmenting  the  debts  of  the  State  more  rapidly  than  the 
resources  for  paying  the  interest  on  these  debts  could  well  be 
increased;  to  a  want  of  economy  in  prosecuting  some,  at 
least,  of  the  public  works ;  to  advancing  large  sums  of  money 
to  private  companies,  when  the  State  could  not  obtain  money 
to  pay  the  contractors  on  her  own  works ;  and  loaning  her 
credit  to  other  companies  when  she  had  no  credit  to  spare. 

"Against  this  unwise  and  hazardous  course  of  policy,  when 
last  in  the  Legislature,  I  solemnly  protested.  I  warned  the 
House  of  which  1  was  a  member  of  its  inevitable  conse- 
quences, and  sought  to  check  the  headlong  precipitancy  with 
which  the  State  was  increasing  her  liabilities,  and  sacrificing 
her  resources  to  aid  private  companies  in  the  accomplishment 
of  local  purposes.  But  individual  and  local  interests  com- 
bined, rendered  efiicient  by  a  system  of  log-rolling  too  com- 
mon in  legislative  bodies,  triumphed  over  the  dictates  of 
prudence,  and  the  State  continued  to  contract  debts  and  lend 
her  credit,  until  at  last  stern  necessity  forces  her  to  adopt  a 
course  which  prudence  long  ago  dictated. 

"But  the  condition  of  the  State,  though  embarrassing,  is 
by  no  means  desperate.     If  the  Legislature  will  now  promptly 

119 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

declare  that  the  State  liabilities  shall  not  be  increased ;  that 
only  so  much  stock  shall  be  sold  as  may  be  found  necessary  to 
pay  ofl'  the  temporary  loans  contracted  under  the  law  of  "^the 
last  session  and  the  balances  now  due  to  contractors,  so  much 
of  it  redeemable  and  the  interest  payable  in  New  York  as  is 
necessary  to  discharge  the  temporary  loans  contracted  in  that 
city,  and  so  much  as  is  necessary  to  pay  the  debts  due  con- 
tractors and  the  banks  of  this  State,  redeemable  and  the  in- 
terest payable  at  the  State  treasury ;  will  suspend  the  further 
prosecution  of  the  work  on  all  the  canals  of  the  State,  except 
the  Wabash  and  Erie  Canal,  and  sell  the  lands  belonging  to 
that  canal  to  finish  the  work  yet  remaining  to  be  done ;  will 
advance  no  more  money  and  lend  no  more  stock  to  turnpike, 
canal,  and  railroad  companies ;  will  appropriate  all  surplus 
moneys  in  the  treasury  to  the  payment  of  the  interest  on  the 
State  debt,  in  order  to  make  up  for  the  anticipated  deficiency 
of  tolls  arising  from  the  probable  scarcity  of  money  during 
the  ensuing  season — the  credit  of  the  State  will  be  sustained, 
the  interest  on  the  State  debt  punctually  paid,  and  further 
embarrassments  prevented. 

''If,  on  the  other  hand,  local  and  personal  considerations 
are  yet  to  prevail  over  the  great  and  permanent  interests  of 
the  whole  State;  if  serious  injury  is  to  be  inflicted  on  the 
credit  of  the  State  for  the  mere  purpose  of  destroying  the 
characters  of  one  or  two  individuals  who  may  chance  to  be 
obnoxious  to  personal  or  party  animosity ;  if  those  who  are 
intrusted  with  the  guardianship  of  the  public  good  shape  their 
course  with  reference  to  making  political  capital  ratlier  than 
to  saving  the  State  from  lasting  disgrace  and  ruin — then,  in- 
deed, is  our  case  a  hopeless  one. 

"In  making  these  remarks  I  have  been  governed  by  no 
wish  to  cast  censure  on  the  acts  or  motives  of  others,  in  what- 
ever situations  they  may  have  been  placed.  Nor  would  per- 
sonal considerations  alone  have  induced  me  to  depart,  in  this 
instance,  from  my  usual  course,  which  is  not  to  notice  the  fre- 
quent personal  attacks  and  misrepresentations  with  which  I  am 
assailed  through  the  columns  of  the  public  prints.  But,  as 
my  conduct  as  a  Commissioner  of  the  Canal  Fund  is  intimately 
connected  with  the  financial  condition  of  the  State,  I  have 
thought  it  a  duty,  owing  as  well  to  the  public  and  the  dis- 
tinguished individual  by  whom  I  was  appointed,  as  to  myself, 
to  correct  in  general  terms  the  misrepresentations  which  have 
been  so  industriously  propagated  in  reference  to  the  agency 

120 


Alfred  Kelley;  Ms  Life  and  Work. 

I  have  had  in  producing  the  embarrassments  under  which  the 
State  now  labors;  and  to  expose  once  more,  publicly,  ray 
opinion  as  to  the  course  of  policy  now  to  be  adopted. 

* 'Alfred  Kelley." 

The  bill  after  being  amended  by  substituting  a  new 
one,  which  did  not  contain  any  provisions  whatever  for 
the  payment  of  any  temporary  loans  in  New  York,  passed 
the  House  on  the  5th  of  March.  The  Legislature  had 
resolved  to  adjourn  on  Monday  the  7th,  and,  as  was  the 
custom  at  that  time  on  the  day  of  adjournment,  it  met 
the  previous  midnight  and  finished  its  business  before 
breakfast. 

On  the  5th  the  Senate  refused  to  agree  to  the  amend- 
ments of  the  House ;  and  the  House  insisted,  and  asked 
for  a  committtee  of  reference.  Such  was  the  situation 
when  the  Legislature  adjourned  on  Saturday  night. 
Neither  the  original  bill  with  or  without  its  amendments, 
nor  the  substitute  of  the  House,  would  have  enabled  the 
commissioners  to  pay  the  temporary  loans  of  the  State 
or  the  personal  loans  made  for  her  benefit. 

Those  friends  of  the  State  who  appreciated  its  condi-, 
tion  were  now  extremely  anxious  in  regard  to  the  re- 
sult. Should  either  of  the  pending  bills  pass,  it  would 
result  in  repudiation,  as  no  provision  was  made  to  pay 
the  temporary  loans  then  maturing ;  and  the  Legislature 
would  only  be  in  session  on  Monday  morning  from  12 
to  about  6  o'clock.  During  those  few  hours,  and  in  the 
rush  and  confusion  which  always  characterize  the  close 

121 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

of  a  session,  a  radical  change  must  be  made  in  the  pend- 
ing bills  on  this  subject. 

Though  the  circumstances  seemed  unfavorable,  those 
who  desired  the  payment  of  all  the  liabilities  of  the  State 
did  not  relax  their  exertions,  but  availed  themselves  of 
every  moment  in  endeavors  to  satisfy  the  reluctant 
members  that  the  honor  of  the  commonwealth  was  at 
stake,  and  that  its  liabilities  should  be  provided  for. 
And  although  Mr.  Kelley  was  so  deeply  interested  in 
the  result,  it  was  said  that  he  was  the  coolest  and  most 
collected  of  them  all.  Notwithstanding  the  injudicious 
and  unjust  proceedings  of  the  Legislature  he  did  not 
believe  it  would  openly  and  deliberately  repudiate  its 
liabilities,  or  rush  into  bankruptcy. 

The  bills  then  pending  were  so  grossly  inadequate 
and  defective  that  Mr.  Kelley  had  previously  prepared 
a  bill  in  accordance  with  the  article  "  To  the  Public  " 
and  fully  carrying  out  its  suggestions.  This  bill  was 
submitted  to  the  committee  of  conference ;  and,  although 
it  differed  radically  from  the  bills  under  its  considera- 
tion, the  committee  was  so  influenced  by  the  represen- 
tations of  its  friends,  the  position  in  which  the  publica- 
tion of  March  2d  placed  its  opponents,  the  necessity 
for  doing  something,  and  the  impossibility  of  agreeing 
upon  any  thing  then  before  the  committee  or  preparing 
any  thing  new,  from  want  of  time,  that  they  decided  to 
report  the  bill  so  submitted  to  each  House ;  in  which  its 
passage  was  one  of  the  last  acts  before  the  adjournment 
Monday   morning.     Notwithstanding  the    evident   pro- 

122 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work, 

priety  and  even  necessity  for  its  passage,  ten  voted 
against  it  in  the  Senate,  and  sixteen  in  the  House.  It 
contained  a  provision  for  the  sale  of  so  much  of  the 
"  stock  of  the  State  "  in  New  York  City,  without  any 
limit  as  to  price,  as  would  produce  a  net  sum  "  not  ex- 
ceeding five  hundred  thousand  dollars,"  for  the  purpose 
of  paying  the  temporary  loans  contracted  on  behalf  of 
this  State  by  said  commissioners,  in  the  City  of  New 
York,  and  in  this  State,  and  now  remaining  unpaid.  It 
provided  also  for  the  suspension  of  all  the  public  works 
of  the  State  except  the  Wabash  and  Erie  Canal  until  the 
close  of  the  next  General  Assembly ;  for  borrowing 
money  to  pay  "  balances  now  due  to  contractors  upon 
the  public  works,  and  for  the  completion  of  the  Wa- 
bash and  Erie  Canal." 

Few  then  appreciated  the  imminent  danger  of  the 
State  on  the  3d  of  January  and  the  7th  of  March,  1842. 
Forty-five  years  have  passed,  during  which  many  impor- 
tant events  have  occurred  and  changes  taken  place ;  and 
it  is  only  the  quite  aged  who  have  any  knowledge  of  the 
general  financial  condition  or  the  peculiar  situation  of 
the  State  at  the  periods  referred  to.  On  the  3d  of  Jan- 
uary, its  honor  and  credit  were  saved,  and  could  have 
been  saved,  only  by  pledging  individual  responsibility  for 
money  to  pay  its  interest ;  and  on  the  7th  of  March  by 
procuring  through  outside  effort  and  influence  the  passage 
of  a  bill,  by  a  reluctant  Legislature  and  in  the  last  hour 
of  its  session,  without  which  its  liabilities  would  have 
been  protested,  and  its  credit  forever  dishonored. 

123 


Alfred  Kelley  ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

The  law  of  March  7th  declared  an  intention  on  the 
part  of  the  State  to  pay  its  liabilities  of  every  descrip- 
tion, and,  as  far  as  practicable,  to  diminish  its  expendi- 
tures. This  declaration  materially  improved  her  stand- 
ing in  the  eastern  market.  That  market  was  unsettled, 
and  there  was  a  strong  indisposition  to  purchase  any  se- 
curities ;  but  much  was  gained  by  the  removal,  to  some 
extent,  of  the  bad  reputation  the  State  had  acquired  in 
consequence  of  the  previous  proceedings  of  the  Legisla- 
ture and  the  declarations  of  members  and  editors. 

What  was  accomplished  by  the  board,  consisting  of 
N.  A.  Swayne,  Alfred  Kelley,  and  G.  Swan,  during  the 
first  four  months,  together  with  their  views,  may  be 
gathered  from  a  few  extracts  taken  from  a  special  report 
made  by  them  on  the  28th  of  July,  1842,  and  which  was 
probably  written  by  Mr.  Kelley.     They  say : 

"  It  will  be  remembered  that,  at  the  close  of  the  last  session 
of  the  Geueral  Assembly  (March  7,  1842),  a  full  report  was 
made,  embracing  all  the  transactions  of  the  board  up  to  that 
period. 

"  Since  that  time,  all  the  temporary  liabilities  of  the  State 
(except  those  to  the  banks  of  Ohio,  from  which  temporary 
loans  had  been  previously  made)  have  been  extinguished.  No 
new  loans  of  that  character  have  been  contracted. 

"  The  amount  taken  from  the  interest  fund  and  applied  to 
the  public  works  during  the  past  year,  as  heretofore  reported, 
has  been  restored.  The  installment  of  interest  recently  due 
on  the  State  debt  was  punctually  paid,  without  embarrass- 
ment or  difficulty. 

"The  undersigned  have  deemed  it  of  the  highest  importance 
to  maintain  the  character  of  the  State,  hitherto  unsullied,  for 
integrity  in  her  dealings  with  those  who,  confiding  in  her  good 
faith  and  punctuality  in  meeting  her  engagements,  have, 
without  any  other  security,  intrusted  her  with  their  money. 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

A  failure  to  pay  the  interest  on  the  State  debt  would  produce 
mischief  and  suffering,  far-reaching  in  their  ramifications 
beyond  what  can  be  readily  conceived,  in  these  times  of  wide- 
spread bankruptcy  and  universal  apprehension;  it  would 
at  once  make  shipwreck  of  the  value  of  the  stock  to  the 
holder.  Such  securities  are  always  absorbed  as  permanent 
investments.  Another  immediate  effect  would  consequently 
be  in  many  instances  to  deprive  the  aged  and  infirm,  the 
widow  and  the  orphan,  of  the  means  of  bread  and  raiment. 
No  consideration  of  a  selfish  nature,  in  public  or  private 
affairs,  should  ever  have  the  slightest  weight  when  poised 
against  those  of  justice  and  good  faith ;  and  in  an  enlarged 
view  of  any  subject  requiring  huraau  action,  whatever  is 
morally  right  is  always  identical  with  what  is  expedient.  In 
the  most  selfish  view,  however,  that  can  be  taken  of  this  sub- 
ject, a  failure  to  meet  the  foreign  engagements  of  the  State 
would  be  the  worst  possible  policy  for  all  concerned.  She 
would  at  once  be  shorn  of  her  credit,  and  consequently  de- 
prived of  the  means  of  commanding  money  by  loan  for  any 
purpose.  All  those  to  whom  she  is  indebted,  at  home  as  well 
as  abroad,  would  consequently  suffer.  The  value  of  the  se- 
curities in  their  hands  would  be  greatly  impaired,  if  not  de- 
stroyed, while  the  prospect  of  future  payment  would  be  ren- 
dered dark  and  distant,  and  depend  entirely  upon  the 
restoration  of  her  credit.  All  would  be  injured  and  none 
would  be  benefited.  Public  credit  is  like  individual  charac- 
ter— it  is  much  easier  to  preserve  than  to  restore  it. 

"The  sacrifices  which  the  State  has  made  in  order  to  meet 
her  engagements  have  not  been  such  as  in  any  material  degree 
to  increase  her  burdens,  and  are  not  greater  than  those  made 
by  other  States  in  undoubted  credit.  The  results  secured  in 
the  fulfillment  of  her  engagements  and  the  maintenance  of 
her  credit  are  worth  greatly  more  than  they  have  cost." 

The  act  of  March  7,  1842,  conferred  upon  the  com- 
missioners extraordinary  powers,  which  were  coupled 
with  great  responsibility.  The  emergency  was  such  as 
to  require  such  a  law.  The  execution  of  the  law,  and  to 
carry  the  State  through  that  critical  period,  required 
more  than  ordinary  discretion  and  judgment.     What  was 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 
» 
done  under  it  is   embodied  in  the  report  of  December 
27th,  made  by  G.  Swan  and  N.  H.  Swayne,  Mr.  Kelley 
not  uniting  in  it  on  account  of  his  absence. 

In  order  to  procure  some  of  the  money  required,  the 
commissioners,  on  account  of  the  depressed  condition  of 
the  American  market,  in  the  language  of  the  report, 
"  deemed  it  their  duty,  before  making  sales  to  any  con- 
siderable extent  at  home,  to  try  the  effect  of  an  effort  in 
the  European  market."  Mr.  Kelley  accordingly  went  to 
Europe  in  May,  where,  according  to  the  report,  "  he 
found  the  apprehension  of  the  security  of  all  the  Amer- 
ican stocks  so  strong,  and  so  little  discrimination  made 
between  the  stocks  of  the  punctual  and  solvent  States 
and  those  of  the  States  which  had  adopted  the  doctrine 
of  repudiation  or  sunk  into  insolvency,  that  the  prospect 
there  was  no  better  than  at  home.  He  made  a  sale, 
however,  upon  terms  which  yielded  about  sixty-eight  per 
cent  upon  the  par  value  of  the  stock.  The  particulars 
of  the  sale  will  be  found  in  the  account  before  referred 
to.  Further  sales  have  been  made  from  time  to  time,  in 
the  eastern  market,  the  particulars  of  all  of  which  will 
also  be  found  in  the  same  account." 

The  following  extracts  demonstrate  the  wisdom  of 
the  law : 

''All  the  temporary  liabilities  abroad,  mentioned  in  the  last 
annual  report  of  the  commissioners,  have  been  paid.  No 
other  loans  of  that  kind,  of  any  considerable  magnitude,  have 
since  been  made." 

In  reference  to  the  law,  and  their  action  under  it,  the 

commissioners  say : 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work, 

"  They  believe  the  inquiry  may  be  safely  challenged,  both 
as  to  the  action  of  the  Legislature  and  of  the  commissioners 
in  giving  it  effect.      What  better  could  have  been  done  f" 

The  following  statements  are  made  in  regard  to  inter- 
est and  liabilities : 

*'  The  interest  upon  the  domestic  debt  was  punctually  paid 
when  it  became  due.  The  interest  upon  the  foreign  debt  also 
was  punctually  paid  upon  the  first  days  of  January  and  July 
last.  The  interest  upon  that  debt,  which  will  become  due  on 
the  first  of  January,  proximo,  will  also  be  punctually  met." 

*'  Less  than  two  and  a  half  millions  of  dollars  would  be 
sufiicient  to  pay  all  tne  liabilities  of  the  State,  other  than 
the  funded  debt,  and  also  to  complete  the  Miami  Extension 
Canal." 

The  commissioners  then  make  a  statement  which  is 
taken  from  a  table  prepared  by  Mr.  Kelley  the  year  pre- 
vious, and  attached  to  the  annual  report  of  January  20, 
1842,  of  the  area,  fertility,  productions,  exports,  popula- 
tion and  its  increase,  the  debt,  revenue,  and  the  true  value 
of  lands  and  personal  property  of  the  State,  and  add : 

'*  The  entire  funded  debt,  foreign  and  domestic,  is  $14,- 
967,519.  The  interest  upon  this  sum  is  $897,951.14.  The 
whole  debt  is  less  than  the  exports  from  the  State  during  a 
single  year.  If  the  State  were  wholly  without  the  income 
derived  from  her  investments,  a  tax  of  a  mill  and  three-fourths 
upon  the  dollar,  of  the  actual  value  of  her  real  and  personal 
property  liable  lo  taxation,  would  more  than  pay  her  entire  in- 
terest; and  a  tax  of  two  and  three-fourths  per  cent  on  the 
dollar  would  more  ilmn  pay  the  entire  debt." 

In  March,  1843,  Mr.  Kelley  and  his  associates  retired 
from  office  ;  the  Board  having  been  reorganized  by  a  law 
passed  in  that  month. 

They  delivered  to  their  successors  the  assets  of  the 
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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

office  in  good  condition,  with  the  interest  provided  for, 
all  stains  upon  the  credit  of  the  State  removed,  and 
every  thing  so  arranged  that  no  difficulty  would  afterward 
be  encountered,  if  judicious  legislation  should  be  se- 
cured, and  reasonably  good  judgment  exercised  in  car- 
rying out  its  provisions. 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 


CHAPTER   XI. 

A    NEW    BANKING    SYSTEM. 

Retirement  Yrom  office. — Elected  to  the  Senate. — The  currency 
and  its  reform.— The  United  States  Bank. — The  panic  of  1837. — 
A  State  bank  for  Ohio. — Mr.  Kelley's  views. — Foundation  of  the 
present  banking  system. 


Mr.  Kelley  retired  from  office  and  the  service  of  the 
State  in  1843.  He  was  not  however  allowed  to  enjoy  the 
rest  he  longed  for  and  needed,  but  in  the  fall  of  1844 
was  elected  to  the  Senate.  The  cause  which  produced 
this  result  was  a  desire  among  the  leading  men  of  the 
State  that  he  should  aid  in  improving  the  currency,  and 
perfecting  some  plan  by  which  the  finances  of  the  State 
would  be  rendered  secure  against  general  business  de- 
rangment,  and  also  against  the  assaults,  open  or  covert, 
of  those  who  might  attempt  to  break  down  public  credit. 

The  condition  of  the  currency  in  1844  may  be  gath- 
ered from  what  has  been  hereinbefore  stated ;  and  orig- 
inated in  an  unfortunate  policy  of  the  General  Govern- 
ment adopted  many  years  before.  From  an  early  period 
down  to  1833  or  1834,  the  currency  and  commercial 
transactions  of  the  country  were  influenced,  and  in  a 
great  measure  regulated,  by  a  United  States  Bank.  Its 
circulating  notes  were  every-where  readily  received,  and 
producers  could  always  procure  needed  temporary  loans. 
Its  bills  of  exchange,  between  the  most  distant  points, 
9  129 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Worh, 

also  furnished  the  producer  the  means  which  were  indis- 
pensable, in  a  country  so  extensive  and  possessing  so 
productive  a  soil  and  such  a  variety  in  climate  as  the 
United  States,  in  transporting  his  products  to  a  market. 
The  country,  during  that  period,  was   generally  prosper- 
ous.    Unfortunately,  the  administration  became   hostile 
to  the  bank,  and  commenced  a   war  of  extermination 
against  it.     A  re-charter  was  refused  and  its  business 
closed.     And  in   defiance  of  the  timely  warning  that  a 
"  degraded  paper  currency,"  especially  when  '•  authorized 
by  law,"  is  oppressive  and  demoralizing,  under  a  strong 
influence  from  Washington,  a  swarm  of  chartered  and 
private  banks  sprang  up  in  every  State   to    supply  its 
place.     An  unnatural  stimulus  was  thus  given  to  every 
branch  of  business  ;  imports  were  increased  and  exceeded 
exports ;  speculations  entered   into  every  department  of 
business ;  real  estate  rose  rapidly  in  its  nominal  value ; 
large  portions  of  the  public  domain  were  appropriated 
by  individuals   and   companies ;   property  of  every  de- 
scription was  bought  and  sold  with  marvelous  rapidity ; 
and  fortunes  were   apparently  made  in  a  day.     In  1836, 
Mr.  Calhoun  stated  in  the  Senate  that  ''  he  believed  the 
state  of  the  currency  incurably  bad,  so  that  it  was  very 
doubtful  whether  the  highest  skill  and  wisdom  could  re- 
store it  to  soundness."     In  the  midst  of  this  mania  for 
paper  money,  the  virus  of  which  proceeded  from  Wash- 
ington, the  President  issued  a  "  circular,"  requiring  all 
agents  for  the  sale  of  the  public  lands  to  receive  nothing 
but  specie  in  payment.     Coin  was  also  exported  to  pay 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  Ms  Life  and  Work. 

for  the  excess  of  imports  over  exports.  This  increase  of 
paper  and  drain  upon  the  metallic  currency  rendered  it 
impossible  for  the  banks  to  redeem  their  issues ;  and  in 
1837  a  suspension  became  general  throughout  the  coun- 
try. Ohio,  being  midway  between  the  East  and  West, 
was  a  great  sufferer  by  the  influx  of  paper  from  other 
States.  Portions  of  the  State  were  not  seriously  affected 
by  the  mania  for  extravagance  and  overtrading,  but  the 
circulation  of  worthless  paper  deranged  her  business 
generally  and  was  destructive  of  confidence.  Her  few 
solvent  banks  were  crippled  by  the  multitude  of  those 
which  were  of  more  than  doubtful  credit.  Previous  to 
the  resumption  of  1842  or  1843,  many  unsuccessful  at- 
tempts were  made  to  establish  systems  of  banking ;  and 
although  after  the  resumption  the  business  of  the  country 
was  conducted  upon  a  sounder  basis,  there  still  remained 
a  general  distrust.  Comparatively  few  banks  were  above 
suspicion,  and  the  reputation  of  such  was  very  limited. 
The  desire,  if  not  the  necessity,  of  a  banking  system 
which  would  command  the  public  confidence  in  and  out- 
side of  the  State  was  very  evident,  and  it  was  demanded 
by  all  sound  and  judicious  dealers.  Such  was  the  con- 
dition of  the  State  and  the  currency  when  Mr.  Kelley 
took  his  seat  in  the  Senate  in  December,  1844. 

During  the  interval  between  the  election  and  the 
meeting  of  the  Legislature,  he  devoted  much  time  to  the 
subjects  of  banking  and  currency,  and  on  the  7th  of 
January,  as  chairman  of  the  committee  on  currency,  he 
matured  and  introduced  a  bill  "  To  incorporate  the  State 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

Bank  of  Ohio  and  other  banking  companies."  The  bill 
was  accompanied  by  a  report,  which  clearly  sets  forth 
the  purposes  and  objects  of  its  various  provisions.  The 
material  parts  of  the  report  are  as  follows : 

"  The  committee  entertain  no  doubt  that  a  very  large  ma- 
jority of  the  people  of  the  State  anxiously  desire  the  enact- 
ment by  the  present  General  Assembly,  of  some  law  author- 
izing the  establishment  of  banks  which  will  furnish  them  with 
a  safe  and  convenient  currency,  afford  reasonable  facilities  for 
obtaining  money  to  meet  the  wants  of  commercial  and  manu- 
facturing operations,  and  at  the  same  time  hold  out  proper 
inducements  to  those  who  have  money  to  invest  in  banking 
institutions. 

''In  framing  this  bill,  the  committee  have  constantly  in 
view  the  great  land-marks  of  entire  security  to  the  bill 
holder,  reasonable  security  to  dealers  with  the  banks,  and 
proper  inducement  to  the  capitalist,  whether  great  or  small, 
to  invest  his  disposable  means  in  banking. 

"  Two  modes  of  banking  have,  within  a  few  years,  been 
presented  to  the  people  of  Ohio,  and  each  appears  to  have  its 
devoted  friends.  The  one  a  system  of  associated  banks,  each 
to  some  extent  exercising  a  restraining  power  over  the  others, 
or  rather,  th(i  whole  association  exercising  the  power  so  far  as 
is  necessary  to  prevent  hazard  to  the  public  or  to  the  associa- 
tion, over  each  of  the  banks  so  associated,  and  being  bound 
for  the  default  of  any  one  so  far  as  to  j)revent  any  loss  to  the 
bill  holder.  The  other  a  plan  of  banking  similar  to  that  pro- 
vided for  in  the  New  York  general  banking  law,  allowing  any 
association  which  may  be  formed  for  that  purpose  to  obtain 
notes  for  circulation  by  depositing  with  the  Treasurer  of  State 
the  certificates  of  the  funded  debt  of  the  State  as  collateral 
security  for  the  redemption  of  those  notes.  The  conflicting 
opinions  in  regard  to  the  relative  merits  of  the  two  systems 
seem  to  have  arisen  and  acquired  strength  in  different  sections 
of  the  State,  as  much  from  the  difference  in  the  financial  con- 
dition of  the  inhabitants  of  those  sections  as  from  the  oppo- 
site views  which  different  men  will  take  of  the,  same  subject 
when  presented  to  the  minds  of  each. 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  Kis  Life  and  Work. 

*'  In  one  section,  Avhere  there  is  little  or  no  surplus  capital 
in  the  hands  of  the  resident  citizens,  but  where  the  amount 
of  commercial  business  is  great,  and  the  field  for  the  profit- 
able use  of  money  extensive,  a  system  of  banking  which  it 
is  believed  will  induce  foreign  capitalists  to  invest  their 
means  in  bank  is  deemed  to  be  of  paramount  importance. 
While  in  another  section,  where  the  amount  of  local  capital 
is  sufficient  to  furnish  the  community  with  the  necessary  bank- 
ing facilities,  such  a  system  is  desired  as  will  permit  resident 
capitalists  to  engage  in  banking  without  compelling  them  to 
make  large  investments  in  public  securities  to  be  pledged  for 
the^redemption  of  the  circulation  of  the  bank. 

"  To  reconcile  these  conflicting  opinions,  and  to  extend  to 
the  difierent  sections  of  the  State  that  relief  which  the  people 
so  generally  demand  at  the  hands  of  the  General  Assembly, 
the  committee  have  so  framed  the  bill  as  to  give  to  the  cap- 
italists, whether  citizens  or  non-residents  of  the  State,  their 
choice  as  to  the  mode  of  investing  their  means  in  banking. 

"  In  authorizing  the  business  of  banking  upon  the  plan  of 
securing  the  notes  of  circulation  by  the  hypothecation  of 
certificates  of  stock,  the  committee  have  departed  in  several 
particulars  from  the  provisions  of  the  general  banking  law 
of  New  York.  This  they  have  done  after  mature  reflection, 
and  from  a  settled  conviction  that  it  would  be  linsafe  to 
adopt  that  law  in  this  State,  without  further  restrictions. 

"Most  of  the  capitalists  who  have  availed  themselves  of 
the  provisions  of  that  law  in  New  York  are  citizens  of  that 
State,  amenable  alike  to  public  opinion  where  they  reside 
and  to  the  penal  laws  of  the  State.  Most  of  those  who  would 
be  expected  to  avail  themselves  of  such  a  law  in  this  state 
are  not  resident  citizens  of  the  State,  and  would  therefore  be 
amenable  to  a  very  limited  extent  either  to  our  laws  or  to 
public  opinion.  Nor  can  the  characters  of  men  for  honor,  in- 
tegrity, or  responsibility,  be  as  well  known  in  a  distant  State 
as  in  the  State  where  they  reside.  To  secure  within  our  own 
borders  a  portion  at  least  of  the  capital  which  is  indispensable 
to  correct  and  honest  banking,  and  a  part  of  the  stockholders 
in  accordance  with  whose  will  the  banks  are  to  be  conducted, 
so  as  to  have  something  tangible  upon  which  our  laws  can 
operate,  and  directors  who  shall  be  known  to  our  citizens,  and 
who  shall  be  amenable  to  our  penal  laws,  if  fraud  upon  the 
public  shall  be  attempted,  the  committee  have  deemed  it 
indispensable  to  require  to  be  paid  in  an  amount  of  capital 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

stock  which  shall  bear  a  certain  proportion  to  the  amount  of 
circulation  to  which  the  banks  shall  be  limited ;  to  provide 
against  the  withdrawal  of  such  capital,  that  the  directors 
shall  be  citizens  of  the  IState,  whose  moral  characters  and  re- 
sponsibility can  be  known,  and  who  shall  themselves  have  so 
much  at  stake  as  will  make  it  their  interest  faithfully  to  ad- 
minister the  affairs  of  the  bank. 

"The  laws  of  New  York  to  which  we  have  alluded  pre- 
sent the  curious  anomally  of  prohibiting,  under  heavy  penal- 
ties, the  withdrawal  of  any  portion  of  the  capital  of  a  bank- 
ing company  while  it  shall  continue  its  business  as  a  bank ; 
while  the  same  laws  require  no  capital  whatever  for  the  daily 
banking  operations  of  the  company,  leaving  this  whole  mat- 
ter to  he  decided  by  the  peculiar  notions  or  ulterior  designs 
of  the  banker ;  for  the  prohibition  against  the  withdrawal  of 
capital  cannot  be  construed  to  relate  to  the  certificates  of 
funded  debt  pledged  with  the  comptroller,  as  these  are  beyond 
the  reach  of  the  banker,  and  can  only  be  given  up  to  him  on 
his  complying  with  certain  prescribed  conditions. 

*'  The  committee  are  aware  that  it  is  said  by  the  advocates 
of  the  New  York  system  that  the  Legislature  is  bound  to 
provide  ample  security  for  the  note-holder,  and  for  him  alone, 
letting  all  others  who  choose  to  deal  with  a  banking  com- 
pany, either  as  depositors  or  as  purchasers  of  its  bills  of  ex- 
change, do  so  at  their  own  risk.  In  this  doctrine  the  com- 
mittee do  not  concur.  They  view  a  law  of  the  State  which 
gives  to  companies  corporate  powers,  as  well  as  a  right  to  issue 
notes  for  circulation,  as  to  some  extent  a  letter  of  credit  to 
the  company ;  they  consider  the  Legislature  to  some  extent 
responsible  for  the  correct  conduct  of  the  company  ;  and  they 
feel  confident  that  the  practicing  of  frauds  by  such  a  com- 
pany upon  its  depositors,  and  the  purchasers  of  bills  of  ex- 
change, even  should  its  note-holders  be  secure,  would  bring 
merited  opprobium  upon  the  law,  and  discredit  on  those  by 
whom  it  was  enacted. 

"  The  committee  have  also  deemed  it  important  to  limit 
the  total  amount  of  banking  capital  authorized  by  the  bill. 
The  apprehension  of  excessive  banking,  whether  well  or  ill- 
founded,  has  a  tendency  to  deter  prudent  men  from  engag- 
ing in  that  business,  while  it  can  not  fail  to  alarm  the  com- 
munity with  the  idea  of  an  inflated  currency  with  all  its  wild 
speculations  and  extravagances,  and  as  an  inevitable  conse- 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

quence  a  subsequent  contraction,  which  will  bring  ruin  upon 
thousands,  and  distress  all. 

"  It  is  said  that  the  privilege  to  bank  should  be  as  free 
as  that  of  engaging  in  any  other  kind  of  business ;  that  if  it 
be  carried  to  excess,  competition,  with  diminished  profits, 
will  insure  a  proper  reduction ;  and  that  the  evil  will  thus 
work  out  its  own  cure,  as  in  other  pursuits.  Those  who 
reason  in  this  way  do  not,  in  the  opinion  of  the  committee, 
take  a  view  of  the  whole  ground ;  while  they  trace  the  analo- 
gies between  banking  and  other  individual  pursuits,  they 
omit  to  notice  the  points  in  which  the  analogy  fails. 

"  If  a  greater  amount  o^  capital  or  labor  be  employed  in 
farming,  manufacturing,  or  commercial  business,  than  can  be 
made  profitable,  the  loss  falls  upon  those  who  invest  their 
capital  or  labor.  Those  portions  of  the  public  who  are  en- 
gaged in  other  pursuits,  so  far  from  being  sufferers,  are,  per- 
haps, gainers  iu  consequence  of  the  withdrawal  of  capital  or 
labor  from  the  pursuits  in  which  they  are  engaged,  and  in 
the  cheapening  of  the  articles  produced  by  those  who  have 
made  these  excessive  investments.  But  when  the  currency 
of  a  country  is  too  much  inflated,  a  moral  fever  is  produced 
through  the  whole  body  politic  which  injuriously  affects  every 
interest  in  the  community,  and  cannot  fail  to  draw  after  it 
subsequent  exhaustion  with  its  long  train  of  sufferings  and 
evils. 

"It  may  be  said,  and  the  committee  think  truly,  that 
there  is  no  immediate  danger  of  excessive  banking  in  this 
State.  There  are  those,  however,  and  men  whose  opinions 
are  entitled  to  respect,  who  think  differently  ;  and  the  enter- 
taining of  this  opinion  by  capitalists  will  as  effectually  deter 
them  from  engaging  in  the  business  of  banking,  while  they 
believe  that  it  may  be  carried  to  excess,  as  if  their  appre- 
hensions were  reduced  to  certaiuty.  The  committee  have, 
therefore,  in  the  bill  which  they  have  now  the  honor  to  pre- 
sent, limited  the  amount  of  banking  capital  authorized  by 
the  bill  to  six  millions  of  dollars. 

**  Such  a  limitation  drew  after  it  the  necessity  of  appor- 
tioning the  capital  among  the  several  sections  of  the  State, 
according  to  the  supposed  wants  of  each,  and  the  probability 
of  its  being  supplied.  In  doing  this  they  have  taken  into 
view  the  banking  capital  at  present  employed,  and  have  as- 
signed to  the  districts  in  which  such  capital  now  exists  a  less 
amount  of  that  which  is  to  be  created  by  the  formation  of 
new  companies." 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

This  bill,  which  became  a  law  in  February  without 
any  organic  or  perhaps  material  change,  embodied  in 
clear,  concise,  and  accurate  language,  provisions  in- 
tended to  secure  every  benefit  and  provide  against  every 
danger  referred  to  in  the  report.  Mr.  Kelley's  skill 
in  drawing  bills,  which  had  long  been  known  and 
universally  acknowledged,  was  illustrated  in  this  in- 
stance by  the  forcible  and  appropriate  language  which 
precluded  every  construction  but  the  one  intended. 
Without  giving  any  details,  it  is  perhaps  sufficient  to  say 
that  banks  were  established  under  the  bill  throughout 
the  State,  and  from  that  time  to  the  commencement  of 
the  Rebellion,  when  the  present  United  States  bank  law 
superseded  all  others,  the  public  was  furnished  with,  a 
sound  currency,  the  bill-holder  was  protected,  and  few 
were  subjected  to  loss  or  inconvenience  while  the  banks 
were  in  existence,  or  when  they  were  wound  up  and  their 
charters  surrendered.  From  its  adoption  the  banks  or- 
ganized under  it  commanded  the  respect  and  confidence 
of  capitalists  every-where,  and  at  no  time  did  any  por- 
tion of  the  public  entertain  any  doubt  as  to  its  security, 
or  any  fear  of  loss.  The  capitalist,  the  borrower,  the 
note-holder,  and  the  depositor  were  brought  together  on 
equal  terms  ;  and  the  rights  of  each  were  so  defined  and 
secured  that  fraud,  imposition,  and  oppression  were  ren- 
dered difficult,  though,  perhaps,  not  impossible. 

If  any  one  will  take  the  trouble  to  compare  the  bank 
law  of  the  United  States  with  that  of  Ohio,  he  will  find 
that  nearly  every  material  provision  is  found  in  them 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

both.     He  will  also  find  that  there  is  a  striking  similarity 

in  the  language   of  many    sections.      The  law  of  Ohio 

seems  to   have   been   the  model  used,  and  was  only  so 

modified  as  to  be  adapted  to  the  United  States  instead 

of  to  Ohio  alone. 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

REVENUE   REFORM. 

Revision  of  the  revenue  system. — Mr.  Kelley's  report. — Equal- 
ization of  taxation. — Sound  economics. 


While  Mr.  Kelley  was  engaged  upon  the  bank  law,  he 
was  not  unmindful  of  the  difficult  task  of  revising  the 
revenue  system  of  the  State,  which  he  was  expected  to 
undertake.  He  had  many  years  before  referred  to  its 
defects,  and  in  general  terms  pointed  out  the  remedy. 
That  remedy  involved  a  radical  change  in  the  system,  in 
regard  to  which  the  public  is  at  all  times  very  sensitive. 
With  a  view,  therefore,  of  bringing  the  subject,  as  early 
as  practicable,  before  the  Legislature  and  the  people,  he, 
in  the  early  party  of  the  session,  offered  a  resolution, 
which  was  adopted,  requesting  the  Auditor  of  State  to 
furnish  as  soon  as  practicable  "  the  net  revenue  applica- 
ble to  the  payment  of  interest  on  the  debts  of  the  State 
during  each  of  the  last  six  years,"  specifying  the  net 
revenue  derived  from  the  public  works,  the  amount  of 
taxes  in  aid  of  such  revenue,  and  the  amount  from  other 
sources,  the  amount  of  interest  paid,  and  the  deficiency 
of  the  revenues  to  meet  the  interest  during  each  of  those 
years,  and  the  sources  from  which  the  deficiency  was 
supplied. 

In  answer  to  this  resolution  the  Auditor  made  a  report 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

which  was  referred  to  the  committee  on  finance,  of  which 
Mr.  Kelley  was  a  member,  and  he,  on  behalf  of  the  com- 
mittee, prepared,  and  on  the  7th  of  February  submitted, 
a  report  which  had  much  influence  on  subsequent  legisla- 
tion. The  following  extracts  from  the  report,  and 
abridgment  of  other  portions  of  it,  clearly  show  the 
financial  condition  of  the  State,  and  the  necessity  for 
immediate  and  radical  changes  in  its  policy  and  laws. 
After  reciting  the  resolution,  and  what  it  was  designed  to 
elicit,  the  committee  express  their  regret : 

"  That  the  Auditor  has  not  been  able  to  communicate  to 
the  Senate  the  desired  information  in  a  more  full  and  in- 
telligible form.  They  will,  however,  attempt,  from  official 
documents,  and  mostly  from  the  reports  of  the  Auditor,  to 
supply  this  deficiency  and  lay  before  the  Senate,  in  a  con- 
densed shape,  such  information  as  will  enable  them  to  form  a 
tolerably  accurate  idea  of  the  financial  condition  of  the  State, 
and  to  judge  of  the  necessity  of  providing  other  sources  of 
revenue." 

They  then  state  in  detail  the  interest  account  for  the 
six  years  from  1839  to  1844  inclusive,  as  follows : 

First.     The  interest  paid  each  year. 

Second.  The  amounts  received  and  applicable  to  the 
payment  of  interest  from  canal  tolls,  taxes,  and  every 
other  source. 

Third.  The  excess  of  interest  over  the  revenue  ap- 
plicable to  its  payment.  After  making  every  allowance 
and  every  deduction  which  could  be  reasonably  claimed, 
there  still  remained  "  a  deficiency  of  accruing  revenue 
applicable  to  the  payment  of  interest  on  the  debts  of  the 
State  for  the  last  six  years  of  |720,858.05." 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

*'  How,  with  this  large  deficiency  in  the  interest  fund,  has 
the  interest  on  the  State  debt  been  paid,  is  an  inquiry  which 
will  naturally  present  itself  to  the  mind  of  every  citizen  of 
Ohio  who  is  anxious  to  preserve  unimpaired  the  credit  of  the 
State.  In  order  to  answer  this  question,  the  reports  and  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Fund  Commissioners,  as  well  as  of  the 
Auditor,  were  carefully  examined,  and  it  was  found  that  the 
deficit  each  year  had  been  supplied  by  temporary  loans,  an- 
ticipations of  revenue  by  means  of  drafts,  anticipations  by 
deposits  of  county  treasurers,  loans  of  other  funds  from  the 
State  treasury,  the  use  of  funds  obtained  to  pay  contractors, 
and  perhaps  other  like  expedients." 

The  committee  then  add : 

"  In  regard  to  the  impolicy  of  increasing  the  debt  of  the 
State,  by  the  application  of  moneys  to  the  payment  of  inter- 
est which  do  not  properly  belong  to  the  interest  fund,  the 
committee  will  take  tlie  liberty  to  quote  from  the  annual  re- 
port of  the  present  Auditor  of  State,  under  date  of  December 
2,  1839.  After  stating  the  deficit  in  the  interest  fund  for 
that  year  at  $253,757.42,  the  Auditor  proceeds  : 

*'  'Which"  is  annually  supplied  by  additional  loans,  and  ap- 
propriated to  the  payment  of  interest.  This  means  of  addi- 
tion to  a  public  debt  is  of  a  startling  cliaracter,  and  certainly 
a  most  miserable  financial  o'peration.  The  sum  of  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  dollars  borrowed  and  applied  to  in- 
terest this  year  involves  the  application  of  $215,000  [$265,0*00] 
the  next,  admitting  the  debt  to  remain  stationary,  and  so, 
from  year  to  year,  the  pr<icess  of  compounding  goes  on  until 
it  assumes  a  most  formidable  and  alarming  character.  The 
great  error,  and  one  which  has  proved  an  ignis  fatuus  to  our 
public  authorities,  leading  them  still  further  into  the  labyrinth 
of  public  debt,  has  been  the  habit  of  reporting  and  regarding 
our  domestic  debt  as  accumulating  revenue  for  canal  purposes, 
and  shutting  their  eyes  to  the  fact  that  every  dollar  of  that 
revenue  so  appropriated  to  the  payment  of  interest,  was  itself 
borrowed,  and  accumulating  interest  for  the  future  as  certainly 
as  if  it  had  passed  through  the  more  formal  routine  of  nego- 
tiation in  Wall  street  or  in  London.' 

"  By  the  act  of  February  4,  1825,  it  is  made  the  duty  of 
the  Auditor  to  assess  such  tax  on  all  the  property  in  this  State 
entered  on  the  giand  list,  and  taxable  for  State  purposes,  as 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

will  produce,  together  with  the  net  profits  of  the  canals  annu- 
ally collected  and  paid  into  the  Treasury  for  each  year,  an 
amount  sufficient  to  meet  the  interest  payable  for  such  year  on 
all  loans,  etc.,  exclusive  of  the  sum  collected  for  the  sinking 
fund ;  and  by  act  of  March  16,  1839,  making  appropriations 
for  new  public  works,  this  duty  was  again  enjoined  on  the 
Auditor,  and  made  irrevocable. 

"  The  committee  can  not  forbear  expressing  their  regret 
that  the  Auditor,  as  well  as  his  predecessor,  has,  for  a  succes- 
sion of  years  previously  to  the  last,  levied  an  amount  of  taxes 
inadequate *to  the  demands  of  the  interest  fund. 

"To  the  impolicy  of  accumulating  debt  for  the  purpose  of 
paying  interest,  the  committee  have  already  adverted.  They 
have  also  called  attention  to  the  imminent  danger  of  suffering 
the  finances  of  the  State  to  remain  in  their  present  deranged 
condition.  It  remains  to  consider  by  what  means  within  the 
power  of  the  General  Assembly  the  deficit  can  be  made  up,  so 
that  the  interest  on  the  State  debt  can  be  paid  from  time  to 
time  as  it  falls  due,  without  anticipating  her  revenues  or  re- 
sorting to  temporary  loans.  Two  modes  of  replenishing  the 
interest  fund  have  presented  themselves  to  the  committee. 

"The  first  is  to  negotiate  a  permanent  loan  for  the  amount 
of  the  present  deficit.  Although  this  mode  of  extricating  the 
finances  of  the  State  from  their  embarrassments  may,  perhaps, 
be  preferable  to  the  temporary  expedients  whicli  have  for 
seteral  years  been  from  necessity  adopted,  still  the  committee 
is  not  prepared  to  recommend  it  for  adoption. 

"The  other,  and  in  the  opinion  of  the  committee  the  only 
legitimate,  mode  of  making  up  the  deficiency  in  the  interest 
fund  is  by  increasing  the  revenues  of  the  State  applicable  to 
that  pur})ose.  This,  the  committee  is  sensible,  can  not  at 
once  be  done  without  such  an  increase  of  taxes  as  the  people 
would  find  it  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  pay.  Indeed,  the 
taxes  now  imposed  on  property  entered  on  the  grand  list  for 
taxation  are,  in  many  instances,  as  high  as  the  property  can 
well  bear.  There  is,  however,  in  the  State  a  large  amount  of 
property  which,  under  our  present  laws,  entirely  escapes 
taxation. 

"  If  our  revenue  laws  shall  be  so  amended  as  to  bring  this 
property  upon  the  grand  list  for  taxation,  as  the  committee 
hope  may  be  done,  the  revenue  may  be  so  increased,  without 
making  the  taxes  more  oppressive  than  they  now  are,  as,  in 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

the  course  of  three  or  four  years  at  most,  fully  to  restore  the 
interest  fund  and  avoid  the  necessity  of  anticipating  the 
revenues  by  means  of  temporary  loans  or  otherwise. 

"The  committee  are  aware  that  by  thus  disclosing,  as  far 
as  in  their  power,  the  true  condition  of  the  finances  of  the 
State,  they  run  the  risk  of  alarming  the  more  timid  of  the 
holders  of  the  stocks  of  the  State. 

*'  But  they  believe  it  to  be  important,  not  only  to  the  inter- 
ests of  the  State,  but  to  the  interests  of  the  stockholders,  that 
the  representatives  of  the  people,  and  the  people  of  the  State 
themselves,  should  be  correctly  informed  upon  this  subject. 
To  the  General  Assemby  this  knowledge  is  necessary,  that  the 
proper  remedy  may  be  applied  before  it  is  too  late;  and  to  the 
people  it  is  equally  desirable,  that  they  may  be  able  to  judge 
of  the  necessity  of  imposing  upon  them  additional  burdens ; 
and  the  sagacious  creditor  of  the  State,  instead  of  feeling 
alarmed  that  the  Legislature  and  the  people  of  Ohio  are 
boldly  inquiring  into  the  real  condition  of  their  finances  with 
the  view  of  applying  the  proper  remedy,  will  feel  renewed 
confidence  in  her  integrity  and  determination  honestly  to  meet 
her  engagements  to  the  uttermost  farthing." 

At  the  same  session,  a  bill  was  introduced  on  the  sub- 
ject of  taxation  and.  referred  to  the  committee  on  finance. 
The  bill  did  not  become  a  law,  but  the  report  of  the 
committee  on  the  general  subject  of  taxation  contains 
additional  and  important  suggestions,  upon  which  legis- 
lation on  this  subject  has  been  based  from  that  day  to 
this.  The  report  was  prepared  and  submitted  by  Mr. 
Kelley  on  the  17th  of  February,  and  the  material  por- 
tions of  it  are  as  follows  : 

"That  from  an  examination  of  the  financial  condition  of 
the  State,  its  accruing  revenues,  and  the  annual  charges 
thereon,  the  committee  are  satisfied  that  an  increase  of  reve- 
nue is  indispensable.  Although  the  State  may  continue,  by 
resort  to  temporary  expedients  and  extraordinary  means,  to 
pay  the  interest  on  her  funded  debts,  as  she  has  heretofore 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work, 

done,  without  an  increase  of  her  revenues  applicable  to  that 
purpose,  the  committee  deem  it  extremely  hazardous,  as  well 
as  impolitic,  to  rely  on  means  and  expedients  liable  to  be  af- 
fected by  so  many  unforeseen  ccmtingencies,  for  the.  accom- 
plishment of  an  object  of  such  vital  importance  to  the  honor 
and  credit  of  the  State,  as  is  the  punctual  payment  of  the 
interest  on  her  debts. 

"  For  a  more  full  statement  of  the  present  condition  of  the 
finances  of  the  State,  and  the  views  of  the  committee  upon 
that  important  subject,  they  ask  leave  to  refer  the  Senate  to 
their  report  (that  of  February  7th)  relative  to  the  condition 
of  the  interest  fund. 

"If  it  be  conceded  that  an  increase  of  revenue  is  neces- 
sary to  meet  the  current  expenses  of  the  State  government, 
and  insure  the  punctual  payment  of  interest  on  the  State 
debt,  the  question,  'how  is  this  increased  revenue  to  be  ob- 
tained,' presents  itself  for  consideration. 

"It  is  evident  that  this  object  can  be  attained  in  one  or 
the  other  of  two  ways.  First,  by  increasing  the  rate  of  tax- 
ation on  property  now  entered  on  the  grand  levy  for  tax- 
ation ;  or,  second,  by  adding  to  the  tax  list  property  not  now 
entered  thereon. 

"To  the  first  mode  there  are,  in  the  opinion  of  the  com- 
mittee, insuperable  objections. 

*'  On  a  large  portion  of  the  property  now  entered  on  the 
list,  the  tax  is  already  so  high  as  to  preclude  the  idea  of  in- 
creasing it." 

"Whenever  the  public  burdens  are  necessarily  heavy, 
justice,  as  well  as  good  policy,  requires  that  these  burdens 
should  be  made  to  bear  as  equally  as  possible,  in  order  that 
they  may  bear  as  lightly  as  possible,  on  those  who  are  com- 
pelled to  sustain  the  weight.  Such  is  not  the  case.  Prop- 
erty listed  for  taxation  is  at  present  valued  so  unequally  that, 
while  the  tax  on  one  portion  is  equivalent  to  its  net  income, 
on  the  other  portions  it  amounts  to  not  more  than  one-tenth 
or  one-twentieth  part  of  the  profits  which  they  yield.  But 
the  injustice  of  suffering  a  large  proportion  of  the  most  pro- 
ductive property  of  the  State  entirely  to  escape  taxation, 
while  property  less  profitable  to  the  owners  is  made  to  bear 
the  whole  burden  of  sustaining  the  public  revenues,  is  still 
more  glaring. 

"  Fully  impressed  with  the  belief  that  sound  policy,  as  well 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

as  impartial  justice,  requires  each  individual  in  the  com- 
munity to  contribute  in  proportion  to  his  property  and  in- 
come, to  the  support  of  that  government  by  which  his  life, 
liberty,  and  estate  are  protected,  and  to  those  expenses  by 
which  his  property  is  made  productive,  the  committee  can 
not  hesitate  to  express  their  decided  conviction  that  a  law 
should  be  enacted  providing  for  a  fair  and  equal  cash  valu- 
ation of  all  the  property  in  the  State,  both  real  and  personal, 
for  the  purposes  of  taxation,  except  such  as  reasons  of  public 
policy  require  to  be  exempted.  The  necessity  of  providing 
means  for  increasing  the  revenues  of  the  State  renders  this 
measure  still  more  important. 

''The  committee  are  fully  aware  that  it  has  been  the  policy 
of  the  State,  from  the  first  organization  of  its  government,  in 
valuing  lands,  other  than  town  lots,  for  taxation,  to  exempt 
the  value  of  the  improvements  made  upon  the  laud.  This 
policy  was  adopted  when  far  the  greater  proportion  of  the 
lands  of  the  State  was  owned  by  non-resident  proprietors." 

"  Most  of  the  tracts  or  parcels  of  arable  land  sufficiently 
large  for  a  farm,  are  now  more  or  less  improved,  and  it  is  no 
longer  necessary  to  abstain  from  taking  improvements  into 
view  in  determining  the  value  of  Jand  for  taxation,  from  a 
fear  of  preventing  or  discouraging  the  making  of  those  im- 
provements. 

"On  the  contrary,  imposition  of  an  equal  tax  on  unim- 
proved lands  and  on  those  that  are  in  a  high  state  of  culti- 
vation has  a  direct  influence  to  prevent  the  purchasing  of  new 
lands  for  the  purposes  of  cultivation.  For,  when  a  man  has 
expended  his  whole  means  in  buying  a  piece  of  unimproved 
land,  and  is  expending  his  time  and  labor  in  bringing  it  to  a 
state  of  cultivation,  it  is  oppressive  to  compel  him  to  pay  the 
same  amount  of  tax  as  is  imposed  on  a  highly  cultivated  and 
profitable  farm  in  the  immediate  vicinity,  containing  an  equal 
number  of  acres. 

"  While  a  principle  so  unjust  is  suffered  to  remain  in  our 
system  of  levying  taxes,  it  must  necessarily  discourage  the 
purchasing  and  opening  of  new  farms.  It  may  be  said  that 
the  imposition  of  heavy  taxes  on  unimproved  lands  wijl  in- 
duce the  holder  to  sell  them.  This  inducement,  however, 
will  produce  little  or  no  effect  if,  by  our  laws,  still  greater  im- 
pediments are  thrown  in  the  way  of  the  purchaser;  for  where 
there  are  no  buyers,  there  can  be  no  sale. 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

"The  committee  are  also  aware  of  the  argument  frequently 
adduced  against-assessing  the  value  of  improvements  on  land 
on  the  ground  that  it  operates  as  a  tax  on  the  product  of 
labor,  and,  therefore,  discourages  productive  industry.  But 
'where  is  the  property  that  is  not  the  product  of  labor?' 
Productive  industry  may  be  regarded  as  the  creative  power 
by  which  every  thing  which  we  denominate  property  is  pro- 
duced ;  and  the  committee  can  see  no  reason  why  the  prop- 
erty of  one  man,  obtained  by  labor,  and  invested  in  unim- 
proved lands,  in  town  lots,  in  horses,  in  cattle,  or  other  tax- 
able property,  should  be  subjected  to  taxation,  while  the 
property  of  another,  invested  in  improvements  on  his  farm, 
and  equally  productive,  is  suffered  to  escape. 

"  Many  and  just  complaints  are  now  heard  of  the  existing 
inequalities  in  the  valuation  of  real  estate  for  the  purpose  of 
taxation.  In  numerous  instances  tracts  of  land  are  entered 
upon  the'  tax  list  at  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  dollars  per 
acre,  while  lands  of  equal  value,  separated  from  the  former 
only  by  imaginary  lines,  are  assessed  at  not  more  than  eight 
or  ten  dollars  per  acre.  A  similar  inequality,  but  less  in  de- 
gree, exists  in  the  valuation  of  lands  situate  in  different 
counties. 

"Although  discrepancies  of  this  kind,  to  a  greater  or  less 
extent,  are  incident  to  all  human  acts,  still  a  due  allowance 
for  errors  in  judgment  will  not  account  for  the  enormous  in- 
equalities which  are  found  to  exist  in  the  valuation  of  lands 
for  taxation.  These  gross  inequalities  can  only  be  accounted 
for  from  the  absence  of  any  definite  and  intelligible  rule  or 
condition  for  determining  the  value  of  lands.  If  these  lands 
"were  required  to  be  appraised  at  their  true  value,  inclusive 
of  all  improvements  thereon,  a  criterion  of  the  value  would 
easily  be  found  in  the  price  for  which  the  same  or  similar 
lands  have  recently  been  sold,  or  in  the  price  demanded  by 
the  owner,  if  held  for  sale.  But  when  the  improvements  are 
to  be  excluded,  and  a  value  altogether  hypothetical  and  imag- 
inary is  required  to  be  affixed  to  the  land,  supposing  it  to  be 
a  state  of  nature,  so  indefinite  is  the  rule,  and  so  great  the 
latitude  given  for  construction  as  to  leave  both  the  judgment 
and  the  conscience  of  the  appraiser,  like  a  ship  at  sea  with- 
out rudder  or  compass,  entirely  without  guide  or  restraint. 

"A  still  more  serious  objection  to  the  present  revenue  laws 
of  the  State  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  real  estate  is 
made  to  bear  an  unequal  and  uujust  portion  of  the  burden 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

of  taxation.  It  will  be  seen,  by  reference  to  the  last  an- 
nual report  of  the  Auditor  of  State,  that  lands,  inclurling 
town  lots  and  buildings  thereon,  are  assessed' at  8109,142,152, 
while  personal  property  of  every  description  is  assessed  at  only 
$27,000,514.  From  which  it  appears  that  more  than  four- 
fifths  of  the  whole  amount  of  taxes  of  tiie  State  are  assessed 
on  lands. 

''  The  committee  have  not  the  means  of  ascertaining,  with 
perfect  accuracy,  the  relative  value  of  the  real  and  personal 
property  of  the  State.  They  are,  however,  of  opinion  that 
personal  property  constitutes  at  least  one-third,  instead  of  one- 
fifth  of  the  whole. 

"  It  is  apparent  that  if  the  personal  property  whicli  now 
escapes  taxation  were  made  to  pay  its  fair  proportion  of  tax, 
lauds  would  be  relieved  from  taxation  to  that  extent. 

"Much  of  the  personal  property  which  under  our  present 
laws  is  exempt  from  taxation  is  the  most  productive  prop- 
erty in  the  State.  Money  or  capital  employed  in  purchasing 
notes,  bonds,  and  mortgages,  in  buying  and  selling  money  and 
exchange,  in  various  kinds  of  traffic,  and  manufacturing  opera- 
tions, in  ships,  vessels,  and  steamboats  on  the  lakes  and  on  the 
Ohio  River,  in  the  furniture  of  extensive  hotels  and  taverns, 
stage-coaches,  and  horses,  may  be  taken  as  specimens  of  this 
class  of  property;  and  no  good  reason  can,  in  the  opinion  of 
the  committee,  be  assigned  for  exempting  this  property  from 
taxation.  Costly  furniture,  although  producing  no  incoine, 
may  be  considered  as  indicative  of  wealth  of  the  owner  and 
his  ability  to  pay  taxes  ;  and  as  a  luxury,  has  ever  been  con- 
sidered, by  euligiitened  legislators,  a  proper  object  for  tax- 
ation. 

"  Nor  is  it  easy  to  discover  a  satisfactory  reason  for  continu- 
ing to  tax  property  vested  in  horses  and  cattle  and  permitting 
that  vested  in  sheep  and  swine  to  escape.  If  it  he  said  that 
hogs  are  fattened  on  the  annual  products  of  farms  which  are 
taxed,  and  that  therefore  the  hogs  themselves  should  not  be 
taxed,  it  may  be  replied  with  equal  force  that  cattle  and 
horses  are  also  raised  and  fed  on  the  yearly  products  of  farms. 

"The  taxation  of  all  the  property  of  the  State,  both  real 
and  personal,  execept  such  as  from  reasons  of  public  policy 
may  be  exempted,  according  to  the  true  value  thereof,  is  the 
only  just,  because  it  is  the  only  equal,  mode  of  levying  taxes. 
The  adoption  of  this  great  principle  into  our  revenue  laws, 
while  it  will  add  largely  to  the  apparent  value  of  taxable 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

property  of  the  State,  and  will  provide  the  means  for  such  an 
increase  of  the  annual  revenues  of  the  State  as  will  avoid  the 
danger  of  a  failure  to  pay  the  interest  on  our  public  debt, 
will  to  a  considerable  extent  relieve  those  who  now  pay  the 
principal  part  of  the  taxes.  The  taxes  paid  by  the  owners  of 
land,  and  especially  of  real  estate  in  towns,  will,  in  the  ag- 
gregate, be  greatly  diminished ;  and  this  deficiency  will  be 
more  than  made  up  by  taxes  levied  on  property  which  at  pres- 
ent pays  little  or  nothing. 

Each  of  these  reports  was  carefully  prepared  for  a 
specific  purpose ;  the  first  to  demonstrate  the  necessity 
of  changing  the  present  policy,  by  showing  that  its  end 
was  inevitable  bankruptcy ;  the  second,  to  show  with 
equal  clearness  that  to  require  all  the  property  in  the 
State,  both  real  and  personal,  to  bear  a  portion  of  the 
public  burden,  according  to  its  true  value,  is  the  only 
just  and  equitable  mode  of  taxation ;  and  that  by  adopt- 
ing this  mode  the  duplicate  will  be  increased  so  as  to 
render  the  share  of  each  comparatively  small,  and  at  the 
same  time  produce  enough  revenue  to  discharge  all  the 
liabilities  accruing  under  the  State  government.  They 
aided  very  much  in  preparing  the  public  mind  for  the 
radical  change  which  was  so  necessary,  and  also  in  some 
degree  directed  attention  to  this  subject  in  the  selection 
of  candidates  for  the  next  General  Assembly.  A  por- 
tion of  the  members  of  each  branch  were  selected  for 
the  purpose  of  aiding  in  accomplishing  the  end  suggested. 
Many  also  were  selected,  as  the  proceedings  too  clearly 
show,  for  the  purpose  of  defeating  every  effort  of  the 
kind,  and  even  to  embarrass  the  State  in  the  payment  of 
its  accruing  liabilities. 

147 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

EQUALIZATION   OF   THE   TAXES. 

Continued  financial  troubles. — Mr.  Kelley's  proposal  for  equal- 
ization of  the  taxes. — A  bold  step. — Mr.  Edgerton's  speech. — 
Mr.  Kelley's  reply. — His  resolution  adopted. — The  contest  con- 
tinued. 


When  the  Legislature  assembled  in  December,  1845,  it 
soon  became  evident  that  the  same  spirit  which  animated 
a  portion  of  the  members  of  the  Legislature  of  1841-2  to 
advocate  repudiation,  and  to  endeavor  to  prevent  the  pay- 
ment of  the  liabilities  of  the  State,  to  cry  down  and  depress 
the  value  of  State  stocks  until  they  could  hardly  be  sold  at 
any  price,  was  to  be  exhibited  anew  in  complaints  that 
stocks  were  sacrificed  in  order  to  pay  the  liabilities  of 
the  State  and  save  its  credit  and  honor.  The  same 
spirit  induced  members  not  only  to  complain  of  such 
sales,  but  also  to  make  use  of  them  as  an  argument 
against  any  material  change  in  the  revenue  laws.  It  ex* 
hibited  itself  in  an  unwillingness  to  provide  for  the  pub- 
lic indebtedness,  notwithstanding  a  considerable  portion 
of  it  was  created  and  used  for  the  construction  of  canals 
which  were  then  yielding  a  large  net  revenue  to  the 
State.  Those  who  were  imbued  with  this  spirit  were 
bitterly  hostile  to  all  chartered  banks,  and  declared 
both  a  willingness  and  a  desire  to  destroy  the  value  of 
State  stocks,  that  they  might  by  such  means  destroy  the 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

banks.  In  order  to  illustrate  the  feeling  which  existed 
in  regard  to  the  banks  and  State  stocks,  and  which  cul- 
minated in  a  formidable  and  violent  opposition  to  the 
proposed  change  in  the  revenue  laws,  it  is  only  necessary 
to  introduce  some  of  the  debates  which  preceded  the  in- 
troduction of  the  bill  for  that  purpose. 

On  the  fourth  day  of  the  session  Mr.  Kelley,  from  the 
committee  on  finance,  introduced  a  preamble  and  a  joint 
resolution,  reciting  that  a  revenue  sufficient  to  defray 
the  expenses  of  the  State  and  of  counties  and  townships, 
to  support  schools  and  the  poor,  and  to  pay  the  interest 
on  the  public  debt,  requires  the  imposition  of  heavy 
taxes ;  that  the  present  system  is  grossly  unequal,  and 
fails  to  apportion  the  public  burdens  among  the  people 
in  the  ratio  of  their  property,  or  of  their  ability  to  pay 
taxes ;  and  that  the  exigencies  of  the  State,  as  well  as 
equal  justice  to  its  citizens,  requires  the  adoption  of  a 
system  more  equal  in  its  operations  and  capable  of  pro- 
ducing more  revenue ;  therefore, 

^^  Resolved  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives,  That  it 
is  expedient,  at  the  present  session  of  the  General  Assembly, 
to  adopt  a  system  of  taxation  that  will  impose  upon  all  the 
property  of  the  State,  both  real  and  personal,  except  such  as 
shall  be  expressly  exempted  by  law,  according  to  its  true 
value,  an  equal  per  centum  of  taxation." 

This  resolution  was  introduced  in  order  to  procure  in 
advance  the  adoption  of  a  principle  upon  which  a  bill 
might  be  based.  It  should  be  borne  in  mind,  as  has  been 
stated,  that  previous  to  this  time  the  burden  of  taxation 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

was  borne  by  real  estate  and  a  few  specified  items  of 
personalty.  Realty  sustained  most  of  the  burden.  The 
principle  set  forth  in  the  resolution  as  the  proper  basis 
of  taxation  had  not  then  been  adopted  and  enacted  into 
a  law  in  any  State  or  nation. 

We  have  been  living  under  revenue  laws  substantially 
copied  from  the  one  adopted  at  this  session  more  than 
forty  years,  and  few  of  the  present  inhabitants  are 
familiar  with  any  other  rule  of  taxation,  and  can  hardly 
imagine  that  any  other  could  be  seriously  entertained. 
The  subject  was  then,  as  it  is  now,  a  delicate  one,  and 
the  public  was  very  sensitive  in  regard  to  it.  It  there- 
fore required  the  preliminary  steps,  which  were  adopted 
the  previous  session,  to  prepare  the  public  for  the  adop- 
tion of  a  plan  for  the  accomplishment  of  what  is  now  re- 
garded as  a  financial  system  combining  justice,  equality, 
and  efficiency  more  perfectly  than  any  other,  and  as  set- 
tling more  clearly  than  any  other  the  great  problem  of 
taxation.  It  was  then  a  bold  step  to  take.  A  bold  man 
took  it,  in  the  presence  of  the  fiercest  partisan  opposi- 
tion, which  aimed,  by  defeating  it,  to  break  down  the 
State  credit,  and  with  it  our  banking  and  monetary 
system. 

The  resolution  relating  to  taxation  being  before  the 
Senate  on  the  10th  of  December,  the  following  was 
ofi*ered  by  Mr.  Edgerton  as  an  addition : 

^^Eesolvedj  That  all  loans  made  by  the  several  banking  in- 
stitutions in  this  State  shall  be  taxed  as  money  at  interest,  the 
same  as  money  loaned  by  individuals." 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  Ms  Life  and  Work, 

• 

This  addition  gave  rise  to  an  animated  discussion. 
The  portions  of  it  and  of  other  discussions  which  follow 
are  copied  from  the  report  of  them  in  the  Ohio  State 
Journal.  It  is  due  to  Mr.  Kelley  to  add  that  he  seldom 
spoke  from  notes,  and  rarely  revised  the  report  of  his 
speeches. 

"  Mr.  Edgerton  said  he  perceived  that  the  Whig  party  had 
got  itself  into  a  dilemma  from  which  it  could  not  extricate 
itself  without  the  aid  of  the  Democratic  party,  and  he  hoped 
such  aid  would  not  be  given.  The  time  has  arrived  when  we 
must  increase  the  per  centum  on  the  grand  levy,  or  bring  new 
objects  of  taxation  upon  the  list,  or  else  the  State  must  re- 
pudiate. By  the  legislation  of  last  winter,  you  liave  put  it  out 
of  our  power  to  tax  banks  except  upon  their  profits,  while  in- 
dividuals are  taxed  upon  their  property.  From  present  indi- 
cations, it  appears  that  no  ad  valorem  law  can  be  passed  at  this 
session  without  some  Democratic  votes,  and  I  believe  there  is 
not  a  Democrat  in  the  Legislature  who  will  vote  for  the  propo- 
sition before  the  Senate,  unless  the  banking  institutions  are 
placed  upon  the  same  footing  as  individuals.  The  Senator 
from  Muskingum  thinks  the  passage  of  this  resolution  would 
have  a  favorable  [an  unfavorable]  influence  upon  the  credit 
of  the  State,  and  the  price  of  its  stocks.     If  by  any  effort 

ON  MY  PART  I  COULD  DEPRECIATE   THE  VALUE  OF  OUR  StATE 
STOCKS   IN    THE   EASTERN    MARKETS,  I  WOULD    CERTAINLY   DO 

SO,  because  these  banks  are  based  upon  those  stocks,  and  if  the  State 
stocks  go  down,  so  must  the  banks." 

"  Mr.  Kelley  said  he  had  endeavored  to  obtain  the  floor  be- 
fore his  young  friend  from  the  north-west  made  his  second 
speech  on  the  same  question,  but  he  had  failed  in  catching 
the  speaker  s  eye.  He  now  wished  to  call  the  attention  of  the 
Senate  to  sentiments  and  motives  which  he  had  been  aston- 
ished to  hear  that  Senator  [Mr.  Edgerton]  advance.  He  did 
not  wish  to  misrepresent  the  Senator,  and  if,  in  reciting  the 
substance  of  what  he  said,  he  did  not  do  it  correctly,  he  asked 
the  Senator  to  correct  him.  '  I  understand  the  gentleman  to 
say,'  said  Mr.  Kelley,  *  that  the  party  in  the  majority  on  the 
floor  were  in  a  dilemma.  That  the  revenue  was  inadequate 
to  pay  the  interest  on  the  State  debt.     That  the  revenne  must 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work, 

be  increased,  or  repudiation  would  be  the  inevitable  result. 
That  the  majority  dare  not  increase  the  per  centum  of  tax  on 
the  grand  levy  as  it  now  stands,  for  that  would  prostrate  the 
party.  That  they  therefore  sought  to  adopt  a  more  just  and 
equal  system,  and  increase  the  amount  of  taxable  property  by 
requiring  all  the  property  of  the  State  to  be  entered  on  the 
grand  list  at  its  true  value.  That  this  could  not  be  done  be- 
cause the  law  creating  the  banks  had  provided  for  taxing 
them  on  their  profits,  and  it  was  out  of  our  power  now  to 
place  the  bank  capital  on  the  same  footing  as  other  property. 
It  would  be  changing  the  contract,  and,  therefore,  would  be 
unconstitutional.  That  he  and  he  hoped  his  political  friends 
would  vote  for  no  tax  law  that  did  not  place  bank  capital  on 
the  same  footing  as  other  property.  That  he  understood  some 
of  the  Whigs  would  not  vote  for  this  proposed  system,  and  it 
needed  Democratic  votes  to  carry  the  measure,  and,  if  repudi- 
ation was  the  result,  the  Whigs  might  thank  themselves  for  it. 
They  had  tied  their  own  hands,  and  he  [Mr.  Edgerton]  ap- 
peared to  exult,  to  feel  pleasure,  in  anticipating  the  result. 

'"Am  I  right? 'said  Mr.  K. 

'"Exactly  so,' said  Mr.  E. 

*'  *I  must  then,'  said  Mr.  Kelley,  '  express  my  deep  regret, 
as  well  as  astonishment,  at  hearing  such  sentiments  avowed  on 
this  floor.  I  will  give  the  gentleman  credit  for  tlie  frank 
avowal  of  his  views,  while  I  can  not  withhold  my  deep  de- 
testation of  his  doctrines.  He  is  willing  to  see  the  public 
faith  violated,  the  credit  of  the  State  prostrated,  its  prosperity 
blighted,  the  deep  and  damning  stain  of  repudiation  forever 
stamped  upon  her  now  fair  reputation,  that  the  party  to  which 
he  belongs,  and  which  has  lost  its  ascendency  by  its  own  rash- 
ness, may  be  again  brought  into  power.' 

"'I  will  not,'  said  Mr.  Kelley,  'condemn  him,  but  if  I 
thought  myself  capable  of  entertaining  such  sentiments,  I 
should  despise  and  detest  myself,  I  should  think  I  ought  to  be 
shunned  by  every  honest  man,  scouted  from  society,  and 
driven  from  the  State.' 

"  The  Senator  had  expressed  a  wish  to  see  the  stocks  of  the 
State  rendered  worthless,  so  that  the  banks  organized  under 
the  law  of  last  winter,  which  were  entirely  based  on  those 
stocks,  might  be  prostrated.  The  gentleman  has  fallen  into 
an  error  in  point  of  fact,  but  seven  of  the  twenty-three  banks 
organized  under  that  law  were  based  on  those  stocks. 

"  The  Senator  said  he  would  even  go  further;  he  would  as- 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

sist  in  depreciating  State  stocks  so  as  to  break  down  the  banks 
founded  on  them.  '  Now,'  said  Mr.  Kelley,  'let  us  see  what 
would  be  the  effect  of  rendering  this  State  stock  worthless. 
It  is  pledged  with  the  Treasurer  of  State  as  security  for  the 
redemption  of  circulating  notes  of  the  banks.  Take  away 
the  security,  or  render  it  worthless,  and  what  is  the  probable 
consequence  ?  The  money  falls  dead  in  the  hands  of  the 
holders,  in  the  hands  of  the  poor  laborer,  who  made  it  to  pur- 
chase clothes  and  food  for  his  family,  bread  for  his  children. 
And  is  this  the  result  which  the  gentleman  seeks  to  produce  ? 
Is  this  his  Democracy,  his  love  for  the  people  ?  If  it  is,  he 
has  a  different  mode  of  showing  his  love  for  the  people  from 
that  which  animates  my  bosom.'" 

The  discussion  of  the  resolution  was  continued  by  dif- 
ferent members,  and  embraced  in  its  range  the  whole 
subject  of  taxation,  and  Mr.  Kelley  closed  it  in  a  speech 
in  which  he  recapitulated  what  is  contained  in  the  report 
at  the  previous  session,  established,  by  unquestionable 
statistics,  the  inequalities  which  resulted  from  the  existing 
system  and  laws,  and  from  the  United  States  census  re- 
turns of  1840,  and  other  sources,  demonstrated  that  the 
real  and  personal  property  which  ought  to  be  taxed  in  the 
State  amounted,  at  its  fair  value,  to  at  least  five  hundred 
and  twenty-six  millions  of  dollars,  instead  of  $144,160,469, 
the  taxable  value  as  returned  that  year,  and  then  pro- 
ceeded: 

*'  If  then  the  absolute  necessity  of  increasing  our  revenues  and 
the  obviously  unjust  operation  of  the  present  tax  law  dejnand 
a  change  of  the  system,  or  such  modifications  as  will  make  it 
more  productive  and  less  unequal  in  its  operation,  shall  we  at 
once  found  it  on  principles  which  all  agree  are  the  most  cor- 
rect and  equitable,  adopt  the  only  system  by  which  we  can 
impose  upon  every  citizen  an  equal  share  of  the  public  bur- 
den in  proportion  to  his  ability  to  sustain  it?  or  shall  we 
attempt  to  patch  up  a  law  already  incongruous  and  obscure 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

in  its  provisions  in  consequence  of  the  loose  manner  in  which 
it  was  drawn  and  the  frequent  changes  it  has  undergone, 
founded  too  upon  principles  so  manifestly  unjust,  because  un- 
equal in  their  operation,  as  to  form  the  subject  of  complaint 
throughout  every  section  of  the  State  ?" 

**  He  had  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  the  first  of  these  al- 
ternatives should  be  adopted.     .     .     . 

"  If  then  it  be  right,  if  it  be  necessary  to  adopt  a  more 
equitable  system  of  taxation — as  I  trust  every  one  is  con- 
vinced it  is — it  remains  to  inquire,  when  shall  it  be  done? 
To  this  I  answer  without  the  least  hesitation,  now  is  the 
PROPER  time.  It  is  never  too  early  to  do  right — to  redress 
a  wrong.  I  know,  as  well  as  any  man,  the  difficulties 
which  surround  this  object — I  am  fully  aware  of  the  sensi- 
tiveness of  the  people  upon  the  subject  of  taxation — and  how 
easily  the  most  just  and  equal  law  for  levying  the  tax  can  be 
misrepresented  by  the  unprincipled  and  designing  demagogue. 
I  know  there  are  some  who  fear  to  jeopardize  their  popularity 
by  voting  for  any  law  upon  the  subject  of  taxes,  unless  it  be  to 
reduce  them.  But'I  have  yet  to  learn  that  the  people  are  so 
destitute  of  intelligence,  so  lost  to  all  sense  of  justice,  as  to 
condemn  their  agents,  when,  with  a  single  eye  to  the  public 
good,  forgetting  their  party  predelictious,  they  fearlessly  do 
that  which  is  right  in  itself,  and  which  is  imperiously  de- 
manded by  the  necessities  of  the  treasury. 

"Let  us  no  longer  rest  in  false  security;  let  us  no  longer 
slumber  on  the  brink  of  repudiation  ;  but  rouse  ourselves,  and 
like  men  boldly  look  the  danger  in  the  face,  and  prepare  to 
avert  that  worst  of  all  calamities  which  can  befall  a  State — 
the  loss  of  its  character  for  punctuality,  for  integrity,  and  for 
honor.  It  is  vain  to  shut  our  eyes  to  the  fact  that  we  can  not 
long  continue  our  downward  course,  sinking  year  after  year 
deeper  and  deeper  in  debt,  without  at  last  arriving  at  that 
lowest  point  of  degradation — repudiation." 

My.  Kelley  here  asked  the  indulgence  of  the  committee 
to  read  a  short  extract  from  a  foreign  paper,  the  London 
Times. 

A  writer  in  that  paper,  after  stating  his  loss  on  Illinois 
bonds,  adds : 

154 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work, 

"  When  ray  boy  asks  me  why  he  is  stinted  of  the  education 
which  he  had  a  right  to  expect  from  me,  what  can  I  answer 
save  *  the  Americans  have  robbed  me  V  And  thus  will  the 
shame  and  sorrow  pass  on  to  another  generation.  The  loss  is 
written  off  in  my  ledger,  but  the  disappointment  of  my  hopes 
in  the  young  race  is  indelible,  and  the  wrong  is  irreparable. 
The  Americans  may  proceed  in  a  successful  course  of  com- 
mercial and  political  triumph  ;  they  may  cover  continents 
with  their  race  and  the  ocean  with  their  fleets,  but  the  stain 
remains  fixed  and  forever.  They  are  not  an  honest  people  ; 
and,  believe  me,  it  is  not  our  writers  but  their  swindlers  which 
have  brought  on  them,  nationally  and  individually,  the  con- 
tempt of  the  world.  Their  bonds  are  driven  from  the  Bourse, 
and  one  is  now  as  much  startled  at  meeting  an  American 
in  society,  as  to  hear  of  Robert  Macaire  at  Almack's." 

"  We  may  affect  to  disregard  the  opinion  of  other  nations," 
continued  Mr.  Kelley,  "  but  it  is  all  affectation.  We  do  and 
we  should  value  the  good  opinion  of  other  civilized  nations 
with  whom  we  hold  commercial  and  frrendly  intercourse; 
and,  when  we  shall  be  sunk  so  low  as  to  disregard  the  good 
opinion  of  the  Christian  world,  we  shall  indeed  have  arrived 
at  a  low  state  of  moral  degradation. 

"In  years  gone  by,  as  the  Senator  from  Clermont  who  acted 
with  him  on  that  occasion  would  bear  witness,"  said  Mr. 
Kelley,  '*  he  had  raised  his  warning  voice  in  the  other  branch 
of  the  General  Assembly  against  the  reckless  expenditure  of 
money  on  works  which  the  public  good  did  not  then  demand, 
and  which,  if  undertaken  at  all,  should  have  been  postponed 
until  the  State  was  able  to  prosecute  them.  He  had  then 
told  the  House  that  their  hands  must  be  stayed,  or  bankruptcy 
would  be  the  result.  But  his  warning  had  been  disregarded  ; 
selfish  views  and  local  interests  had  prevailed  ;  and  the  conse- 
quence was  a  State  debt  of  nearly  twenty  millions.  He  could 
tell  how  the  public  money  had  been  squandered,  of  the  neglect 
and  unfaithfulness,  not  to  say  the  downright  dishonesty,  of 
public  agents,  but  this  was  not  the  time  nor  the  occasion. 
We  have  now,"  said  Mr.  Kelley,  "  to  deal  wuth  the  present 
and  to  look  out  for  the  future,  not  mourn  over  the  past. 
Let  us  not  fear  to  examine  our  condition,  but  like  men  probe 
the  wound  to  the  bottom,  and  fearlessly  apply  the  remedy. 
But  if  this  course  shall  not  be  adopted,  if  others  shall  timidly 
shrink   from    the   performance  of  their  duty,  if  repudiation 

155 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his^Life  and  Work. 

• 
shall  envelope  our  beloved  State  in  a  mantle  of  shame,  driv- 
ing our  most  worthy  citizens  from  our  borders,  and  preventing 
from  coming  among  us  all  who  are  unwilling  to  share  the 
ignominy  of  violated  public  faith,  I,  at  least,  will  wash  my 
hands  of  the  foul  stain.  I  will  not  stand  tamely  and  see 
the  deed  committed." 

The  addition  proposed  by  Mr.  Edgerton  was  then  re- 
jected, and  the  preamble  and  resolution  offered  by  Mr. 
Kelley  in  behalf  of  the  finance  committee  were  adopted. 

On  the  29th  of  December,  Mr.  Edgerton  offered  the 
following  preamble  and  resolution,  occasioning  a  dis- 
cussion in  which  Mr.  Kelley  for  the  first  time  in  his 
own  behalf  stated  the  circumstances  under  which  the 
bonds  of  the  State  were  sold  at  less  than  par,  and  also 
under  which  he  had  pledged  his  individual  credit  to  more 
than  he  was  worth  in  order  to  save  the  State  from  pro- 
test and  dishonor.  The  discussion  also  discloses  the 
bitter  hostility  he  afterward  encountered  during  the 
passage  of  the  bill  to  tax  all  property  in  the  State  ac- 
cording to  its  value : 

"  Whereas,  the  Governor  of  Ohio,  in  his  last  annual  Mess- 
age to  this  General  Assembly,  says  that  arrangements  have 
already  been  made  to  pay  the  liabilities  of  the  State  falling 
due  in  January  and  July  next;  and,  whereas,  the  Canal  Fund 
Commissioners,  as  appears  by  their  report,  bearing  date  the 
26th  inst.,  have  been  forced  to  make  temporary  loai:s  to  the 
amount  of  $363,564.40,  to  pay  the  interest  on  the  State  debt 
due  on  the  1st  of  January  next,  without  making  any  pro- 
vision for  the  July  interest,  no  part  of  which  loans  are  re- 
ported to  the  Auditor  of  State,  nor  by  him  embodied  in  his 
annual  report;  and,  whereas,  the  Treasurer  of  State  has 
issued  circulars  calling  upon  the  several  County  Treasurers 
for  the  State's  proportion  of  the  taxes  of  1845,  collected  by 
them,  to  be  remitted  to  the  Treasurer  of  State  in  order  to 
meet  the  January  interest;  and,  whereas,  these  facts  seem  to 

156 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

contradict  the  statement  made  by  the  Governor  that  arrange- 
ments had  already  been  made  to  pay  the  July  interest; 
therefore, 

^^  Resolved,  that  the  Governor  be  and  hereby  is  requested 
to  report  to  the  Senate,  at  his  earliest  convenience,  by  whom 
and  with  whom  the  arrangements  alluded  to  were  made,  and 
such  other  matters  connected  therewith  as  will  fully  advise 
the  Senate  of  the  nature  of  the  transaction." 

"  Mr.  Kelley  moved  to  lay  the  resolution  on  the  table. 

*'  He  said  the  statement  of  the  finances  of  the  State  had 
gone  out.  So  much  as  is  necessary  or  material  to  be  known 
is  known.  He  did  not  see  the  necessity  for  this  continued 
agitation  of  this  matter.  The  gentleman  offering  this  resolu- 
tion had  declared  to  the  Senate  and  the  world  that  if  by  any 
act  of  his  he  could  reduce  the  value  of  the  State  stocks  so  as 
to  break  down  the  banks  which  held  them  as  securities,  he 
would  do  so.  To  accomplish  this  object  was,  perhaps,  his 
motive  for  agitation.     Certainly  no  good  could  result  from  it. 

"The  gentleman  intimates,  by  his  resolution,  that  the 
statements  of  the  Governor  are  incorrect,  or  that  he  had  put 
forward  false  statements.  The  Governor  had  undoubtedly 
based  his  remarks  upon  the  statements  of  the  officers  of  the 
State ;  and  the  detailed  information  called  for  was  probably 
not  in  his  possession.  The  Governor  had  announced  that 
arrangements  had  been  made  to  meet  the  interest  soon  falling 
due  on  the  State  debt. 

"He  [Mr.  Kelley]  was  prepared  to  say  that  positive  pro- 
visions had  been  made  for  the  payment  of  the  January  in- 
terest." 

[Mr.  Edgerton  said  that  he  did  not  doubt  that.  He 
wished  to  know  particularly  about  the  July  interest.  The 
Governor  stated  that  arrangements  had  been  made  for  the 
payment  of  that.] 

^^Arrangements"  continued  Mr.  Kelley.  "This  is  a  very 
comprehensive  word.  It  was  well  known  that  it  was 
frequently  necessary  to  anticipate  the  revenues  of  the  State 
for  the  purpose  of  collecting  in  time  the  money  necessary  to 
meet  its  liabilities.  The  canal  tolls  were  sometimes  rendered 
available  before  the  time  of  their  coming  regularly  into  the 
treasury.  So  with  other  resources  of  the  State.  It  might  be 
that  arrangements  of  this  character  were  in  progress. 

"  He  was  not  prepared  to  say  what  the  arrangements  for 

157 


Alfred  Kelley;  his  Life  and  Work. 

meeting  the  July  interest  were.  He  presumed  the  officers  of 
the  State  spoke  advisedly  when  they  affirmed  that  they  were 
in  progress. 

"  If  the  Auditor  is  correct,  the  prompt  payment  of  the  July 
interest  is  ceHain.  Why  then  waste  time  in  inquiries  such  as 
these?  Why  continue  to  agitate  the  public  mind?  He  had 
stated  on  a  former  occasion  the  actual  financial  condition  of 
the  State,  and  what  he  conceived  to  be  the  true  policy  of  the 
State  in  regard  to  it.  The  adoption  of  that  policy  would 
place  us  beyond  the  necessity  of  any  temporizing  expedients. 
The  perpetual  agitation  of  the  financial  condition  of  the  State 
here  may  serve  to  depress  our  stocks,  and  make  them  foot- 
balls of  the  dealers  in  stocks.  It  could  serve  ro  other  pur- 
pose. He  was  prepared  to  go  as  far  as  any  man  to  place  this 
matter  right  and  apply  the  legitimate  remedy.  But  if  this 
matter  was  to  be  brought  up  so  often,  it  might  be  well  to  in- 
quire into  the  origin  of  these  deficiencies,  which  were  so  fruit- 
ful a  source  of  contention.  Unquestionably  the  debt  had 
been  greatly  increased  by  undertaking  the  construction  of 
Public  Works,  which  should  not  have  been  undertaken,  at 
least  at  the  time  they  were  undertaken,  and  which  probably 
would  not  have  been  undertaken  had  wise  councils  pre- 
vailed. What  party  was  in  the  majority  at  that  period  ?  A 
correct  answer  would  doubtless  designate  the  party  which  was 
responsible  for  a  large  proportion  of  the  public  indebtedness. 

"  We  may  go  one  step  further,  and  contrast  the  cost  of  the 
earlier  works  of  improvement  with  the  later  ones.  The 
latter,  though  not  nearly  as  well  constructed,  cost  two  and  a 
half  times  as  much  as  the  former.  Under  the  direction  and 
control  of  what  party  were  these  works  carried  on?  It  re- 
quired no  one  very  deeply  versed  in  our  political  history  to 
tell. 

"Now,  let  us  look  a  little  further.  The  Auditor  of  State 
is  directed  to  levy  sufficient  tax  to  meet  the  liabilities  of  the 
State.  The  Auditors  immediately  preceding  the  present  in- 
cumbent, who  has  held  his  office  scarcely  a  twelve-month,  in 
neglect  of  their  duty,  had  allowed  the  State  to  run  behind 
to  the  amount  of  $1,500,000.  It  was  this  deficiency,  thus 
allowed  to  accumulate,  that  caused  the  embarrassments  in 
which  the  State  was  not  long  since  involved.  The  Fund 
Commissioners  had  no  power  to  levy  taxes  or  collect  tolls.- 
That  was  a  power  intrusted  to  others.  Their  only  resource 
was  to  dispose  of  an  amount  of  the  stocks  of  the  State,  as  the 

158 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

law  authorized  them.  This  they  did,  and  at  considerable 
loss. 

''The  indebtedness  was  accumulated,  then,  first,  by  the 
construction  of  works  not  then  called  for,  if  ever;  second, 
by  a  gross  want  of  economy  in  public  officers  who  had  man- 
aged these  works ;  and,  third,  by  the  neglect  of  the  Auditors 
to  do  their  duty. 

"Now,  then,  what  is  to  be  done?  Certainly,  to  provide 
for  the  future,  not  to  go  back  to  say  who  did  this  or  that,  or 
to  decide  who  was  most  to  blame.  It  was  useless  to  refer  to 
the  past,  unless  to  take  warning  from  its  errors. 

"  The  passage  of  the  resolutions  like  the  one  pending  could 
have  no  good  effect.  The  agitation  which  it  would  keep  up 
would  tend  to  depress  the  credit  of  the  State.  He  hoped  the 
resolution  would  lie  on  the  table. 

"  Mr.  Edgerton  said  he  supposed  his  resolution  would  pro- 
voke discussion.  It  had  done  so.  He  was  aware  that  certain 
charges  had  been  made  against  him,  both  in  and  out  of  the 
Senate,  of  an  intention  to  reduce  the  stocks  and  invalidate 
the  credit  of  the  State.  He  understood  his  own  objects,  and 
knew  the  tendency  of  his  resolution.  He  questioned  whether 
any  provision  had  been  made  for  paying  the  July  interest, 
notwithstanding  the  statement  of  the  Governor's  message 
that  arrangements  were  made  to  meet  that  interest.  He 
thought  there  was  an  intention  to  cloak  up  the  real  condition 
of  the  State.  The  Canal  Fund  Commissioners  report  that 
they  have  borrowed  $364,000.  The  Treasurer  has  called 
upon  the  county  treasurers  for  the  State  tax ;  and  this  is  all 
to  meet  the  January  interest. 

"  Can  it  be  true,  under  these  circumstances,  that  arrange- 
ments are  made  to  meet  the  interest  in  July  ?  He  believed 
the  Governor  had  been  misinformed  by  somebody.  If  his  in- 
quiry, by  unveiling  our  actual  condition,  depreciated  the" 
stocks  of  the  State,  Jet  it  be  so ;  all  the  better. 

"If  the  fact  as  stated  by  the  Governor  is  correct,  the  ar- 
rangement is  dependent  upon  loans  from  the  banks,  which 
loans  are  contingent  upon  the  passage  of  the  contemplated 
bill  to  adopt  a  system  of  taxation  which  shall  provide  addi- 
tional revenue  to  the  State.  He  apprehended  this  was  the 
arrangement  referred  to,  and  to  ascertain  if  he  was  correct 
was  one  object  of  his  inquiry. 

"  There  was  a  feature  in  the  past  financial  history  of  the 
State  which  was  an  inducement  for  him  to  act  in  the   matter. 

159 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

The  State  had  always  been  dependent  on  the  banks ;  they  had 
been  linked  together  in  their  policy.  To  break  up  this  de- 
pendency was  one  of  his  primary  objects.  The  banks  had 
always  made  their  greatest  profits  out  of  the  poverty  of  the 
State. 

"  The  gentleman  (Mr.  Kelley)  had  alluded  to  the  origin  of 
the  indebtedness  of  the  State.  There  was  one  fact  which  he 
would  like  to  mention  in  reply.  He  (Mr.  Kelley)  and  others 
had  sold  the  stocks  of  the  State  at  sacrifices  amounting  to 
nearly  $500,000. 

"  [Mr.  Edgerton  here  proceeded  to  give  certain  statistics.] 
"Those  statistics  clearly  establish   that,   in    1841-2,   and 
when  Mr.  Kelley  was  Canal  Fund  Commissioner,  State  stocks 
were  sold — 

"  The  par  value  of  which  was  .         .         $1,487,200  00 

"  The  amount  received  was  .         .         .       1,031,711  78 


"  The  loss  of  the  State  was       .         .         .  $455,488  22 

"  He  thought  the  '  simplest  history  of  these  transactions 
were  their  best  analogy  [sic.].' 

"It  was  stated,  indeed,  that  these  sacrifices  were  neces- 
sary; but,  necessary  or  not,  it  could  not  be  denied  that  the 
State  had  lost  heavy  amounts  of  money  by  these  transactions. 
'That'  continued  Mr.  Edgerton,  '  can  not  be  charged  upon  us 
of  the  minority.' 

"But  who  profited  by  the  State  loss?  The  bankers.  It 
was  they  who  fattened  and  grew  rich  upon  the  losses  of  the 
State.  And  against  a  system  which  permitted  of  this  con- 
nection and  these  results  he  would  wage  an  eternal  warfare, 
*  cry  havoc,  and  let  slip  the  dogs  of  war.' 

"  He  would  again  inquire,  in  conclusion,  how  the  June 
and  July  obligations  of  the  State  were  to  be  met  ?  He  could 
conceive  of  no  way,  unless  as  he  had  already  explained  by  an 
understanding  with  the  banks,  based  upon  the  contingency  of 
the  passage  of  the  proposed  tax  law.  He  hoped,  by  the  pass- 
age of  his  resolution,  to  ascertain  the  facts  in  this  matter — 
whatever  efiTect  their  development  might  have  upon  stocks  or 
credit." 

"  Mr.  Kelley  said  he  did  not  propose  to  follow  the  gentle- 
man in  a  reply.  He  [Mr.  Edgerton]  had,  as  was  quite  com- 
mon with  others  of  the  same  party,  taken  occasion  to  taunt 
him  [Mr.  Kelley]  with  having  sold  the  stocks  of  the  State  at 

160 


Alfred  Kelley ;  Ms  Life  and  Work. 

less  than  their  face  value.  He  admitted  it,  he  had  never 
concealed  it;  and  the  circumstances  attending  that  sale  were 
before  tlie  world,  and  he  was  willing  to  submit  his  conduct  to 
its  judgment.  When  the  credit  of  the  State  was  tottering 
almost  to  its  overthrow,  at  a  time  of  unexampled  depression 
in  the  financial  world,  when  the  stocks  of  the  General  Gov- 
ernment could  find  no  sale  in  the  market,  and  when  the  bonds 
of  the  great  and  rich  State  of  New  York  would  not  bring  sev- 
enty-five cents  on  the  dollar  in  her  own  commercial  metropolis, 
and  when  she  was  forced  to  permit  her  obligations  to  fall  due, 
from  utter  inability  to  meet  them  at  that  time,  he  had,  in 
conjunction  with  those  who  acted  with  him,  resorted  to  the 
only  means  which  was  left  to  save  the  honor  of  the  State, 
which  means,  he  might  add,  they  were  authorized  to  resort 
to,  by  a  law  of  the  State  passed  to  meet  that  special  emergency. 
And  at  that  time,  and  under  these  circumstances,  he  became 
personally  responsible  in  behalf  of  the  State  for  more  than 
he  was  worth,  in  order  that  she  might  pass  safely  through  her 
severest  trial.  And  he  had  done  so,  too,  when  he  was  warned 
by  gentlemen  of  high  standing  among  his  political  opponents, 
to  beware  how  he  committed  himself,  because  there  were 
those  of  his  foes  who  would  willingly  have  the  credit  of  the 
State  prostrated,  if  thereby  Alfred  Kelley  could  be  involved 
in  ruin.  There  were  those  who  would  have  gloried  in  the  lost 
honor  of  the  State,  in  her  disgrace  and  misfortune,  if  he  had 
fallen  with  her. 

"  This  was  done  at  a  time,  also,  when  repudiation  was 
talked  of  in  this  capital,  and  when  a  proposition  was  pending 
to  take  away  from  the  Auditor  his  power  to  levy  tliese  taxes 
upon  which  the  financial  safety  of  the  State  depended.  At  a 
time,  too,  when  a  protege  of  a  man  high  in  public  station,  a 
man  who  was  called  the  Jupiter  Tonans,  the  Thunderer  of  the 
opposing  party,  wrote  to  an  editor  in  the  City  of  New  York, 
stating  that  the  doctrine  of  repudiation  was  gaining  ground, 
and  had  inflected  the  Legislature,  and  contemplating  a  total 
failure  of  the  State  to  meet  her  obligations. 

"  He  had  no  occasion  to  regret  his  conduct  at  that  time 
and  under  these  circumstance.  On  the  contrary  he  gloried  in 
what  he  had  done.  He  thought  it  neither  just  nof  magnani- 
mous in  opponents  to  taunt  him  as  having  acted  a  dishonor- 
able part.  It  came  with  an  ill  grace  from  them  who  had 
never  raised  a  finger  in  behalf  of  the  State,  to  accuse  him 
of  dereliction  of  duty,  and  of  having  trifled  with  the  interests 

11  161 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work, 

of  the  coramouwealth.  It  was  true  he  had  made  sacrifices 
to  save  the  credit  of  the  State,  and  none  could  regret  the  ne- 
cessity more  than  he  did.  They  were  made  to  avert  great 
and  overwhelming  calamities.  The  report  of  the  commission- 
ers appointed  to  examine  the  transactions  of  the  Fund  Com- 
missioners would  place  his  conduct  in  its  proper  light,  and  ex- 
culpated him  from  all  censure. 

"  Mr.  Kelley  recommended  those  who  were  so  free  in  their 
condemnation  to  look  back  and  see  by  whose  acts  the  sacri- 
fices, so  often  alluded  to,  were  made  necessary.  They  sliould 
show  that  something  better  could  have  been  done,  before 
passing  their  censure  so  freely. 

"  In  respect  to  this  resolution,  he  could  only  repeat  that  he 
considered  its  adoption  entirely  unnecessary  for  any  good  pur- 
pose. The  gentleman  says  he  shall  continue  the  agitation  of 
this  matter  day  after  day.  What  is  his  object,  unless  it  be 
the  one  he  so  boldly  avowed  a  few  days  ago?  He  then  de- 
clared that  if  by  any  act  of  his  he  could  reduce  the  value  of 
the  stocks  of  the  State  he  would  do  so.  Was  not  this  one  of 
the  "  acts?"  Did  the  gentleman  expect  that  his  party  would 
be  enabled  to  get  into  power  by  this  course  ?  Perhaps  so. 
But  he  could  tell  the  gentlemen  that  power  gained  by  such 
means  would  be  vain  to  those  who  gained  it. 

"  The^^  would  reign  over  a  prostrated,  desolated  State.  If 
the  gentleman  chose  to  bring  this  subject  up  daily  as  he 
threatens  to  do,  he  [Mr.  Kelley]  could  say  that  there  was  a 
power  here  to  put  it  down  as  olten." 

After  further  discussion  the  preamble  and  resolution 
were  indefinitely  postponed. 

162 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

PASSAGE    OF    THE    TAX   LAW. 

Mr.  Kelley's  speech. — Passage  of  the  bill  in  the  Senate. — Its 
passage  in  the  House. — Features  of  the  law. — The  succeeding 
political  controversy  over  it. — Its  success  and  eflFect. 


The  reports  and  discussions  on  the  general  subject  had 
prepared,  as  far  as  such  proceedings  could  do  so,  both 
the  public  and  the  Legislature  for  the  bill  which  was 
introduced  into  the  Senate  on  the  6th  of  January,  1846. 

The  hostility  which  had  been  previously  manifested  in 
the  Senate,  and  in  some  of  the  public  prints,  continued 
with  the  same  if  not  with  increased  intensity.  That 
hostility  was  political,  and  regardless  of  the  public  good. 
It  proceeded  from  the  motives  and  desires  of  the  partisan 
and  mere  politician,  and  was  not  worthy  of  statesmen. 
A  persistent  effort  was  made  to  render  the  passage  of 
the  bill  a  party  question.  During  its  progress  through 
the  Senate  many  amendments  were  offered  with  a  view 
solely  to  their  political  effect.  And  no  opportunity  was 
neglected  to  ridicule  it,  or  fender  it  obnoxious  to  the 
public.  Many  amendments  in  its  details  were  proposed 
and  adopted,  and  on  the  thirteenth  of  February,  when 
it  was  ready  for  a  final  vote,  a  motion  was  made  to  post- 
pone its  further  consideration  until  the  next  December. 

163 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

Upon  this  motion  Mr.  Kelley  made  the  following  re- 
marks : 

''  We  are  dow  asked,"  said  Mr,  Kelley,  "  to  postpone  this 
bill  until  the  first  Monday  in  December  next;  and  are  told  as 
a  reason  for  adopting  this  course,  '  that  this  is  an  important 
measure,  and  should  be  well  considered  ;  we  are  told  that  the 
people  should  have  a  chance  to  examine  and  express  their 
opinions  on  it/ 

"It  is  true,  said  Mr.  Kelley,  "  this  is  an  important  measure. 
It  is  true,  too,  that  it  is  a  necessary  measure.  But  has  it 
not  been  long  agitated  and  carefully  considered  ?  Have  not 
our  State  Auditors,  for  the  last  five  or  six  years  in  succession, 
brought  this  subject  before  the  Legislature  and  the  people  of 
the  State  urging  the  adoption  of  an  ad  valorem  system  of 
taxation,  as  the  only  system  from  which  an  adequate  revenue 
can  be  raised,  without  injustice  and  oppression  to  a  large  por- 
tion of  the  tax-payers  ?  All  this  has  been  repeatedly  done 
by  the  principal  financial  officer  of  the  State,  the  Auditor;  a 
gentleman  of  the  same  political  party  as  the  senator  who  has 
made  this  motion  to  postpone.  That  gentleman  [Mr.  Brough], 
with  the  assistance  of  others  whom  he  thought  competent  to 
advise  on  the  subject,  drew  up  a  tax  bill  upon  the  same 
principles  as  the  one  pending  before  the  Senate.  That  bill 
was  presented  by  the  committee  of  finance  of  the  other  House 
at  the  session  before  the  last,  and  after  some  consideration,  it 
was  postponed  to  the  first  Monday  of  December  then  next. 
At  the  last  session  the  same  bill  was  reported  on  leave  in 
the  Senate ;  it  was  referred  to  the  committee  on  finance,  who 
amended  its  details  and  made  a  report  to  the  Senate  urging 
the  propriety  and  necessity  of  its  passage.  That  report  had 
been  before  the  people  for  more  than  a  year,  and  its  argu- 
ments had  remained  uncontroverted.  It  had  received  at 
least  the  tacit  assent  of  the  people.  But  the  Senate,  for 
want  of  time  maturely  to  consider  it  and  perfect  its  details, 
as  was  then  said,  had  postponed  it  until  the  present  session. 
At  an  early  day  of  the  present  session  the  subject  was  again 
taken  up,  and  the  main  principle  contained  in  the  bill  now 
before  us  was  deliberately  adopted  by  the  Senate  in  the  form 
of  a  resolution  ;  which,  in  eflfect,  instructed  the  committee  to 
introduce  a  bill  to  carry  out  that  great  principle,  namely: 
To  tax  property  according  to  its  true  value. 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

"A  bill  was  accordingly  introduced ;  it  was  carefully  con- 
sidered in  all  its  details ;  it  was  recommitted  to  reconcile 
all  conflicting  opinions  as  to  some  of  its  detads ;  those  con- 
flicting opinions  had  been  reconciled ;  the  bill  had  been  re- 
ported back,  again  carefully  considered  and  amended  by  the 
Senate ;  and  now,  when  it  was  about  to  pass,  we  are  asked 
to  postpone  it  till  the  first  Monday  in  December  next. 

"  '  To-morrow,  and  to-morrow,  and  to-morrow,'  says  Shakes- 
peare, '  creeps  on  its  petty  pace  from  day  to  day  to  the  last 
syllable  of  recorded  time.'  'The  first  Monday  of  December 
next,'  and  '  the  first  Monday  of  December  next,'  and  '  the 
first  Monday  of  December  next,'  to  the  end  of  time,  is,  ac- 
cording to  the  senator's  theory,  the  proper  time  for  adopting 
a  great  principle  in  adjusting  the  public  burdens  to  the 
shoulders  of  the  people  which  all  admit  to  be  right  and 
just. 

"I  have  been  taught  that  it  is  never  too  early  to  do 
right,  never  too  soon  to  redress  a  wrong.  That  a  large  por- 
tion of  the  tax-payers  of  the  State  are  wronged,  grievously 
wronged,  by  oppressive  taxation,  while  others,  much  more 
able  to  pay  taxes,  are  either  partly  or  wholly  exempt,  is  a  fact 
.no  one  who  has  any  knowledge  of  the  subject  will  have  the 
hardihood  to  deny. 

"And  these  are  not  the  only  ones  who  are  wronged — no, 
Mr.  Speaker,  notwithstanding  you  have  for  years  applied  the 
moneys  arising  from  the  sales  of  school  lands  to  pay  the  in- 
terest on  the  public  debt,  while  you  are,  every  time  that  in- 
terest becomes  due,  compelled  to  borrow  large  sums  to  pay 
that  interest,  and  anticipate  all  your  forthcoming  revenues 
arising  from  tolls  and  taxes,  you  can  not  pay  the  laborers 
who  keep  your  public  works  in  repair.  The  State  does  not 
keep  its  faith  with  those  who  labor  for  the  public,  who  earn 
their  daily  bread  by  the  sweat  of  their  brows.  They  come  to 
the  State  Treasury ;  they  knock  at  the  door ;  they  are  ad- 
mitted ;  but  the  treasury  is  empty.  They  go  away  disappointed. 
They  come  again,  but  still  with  the  same  result  until  '  hope 
deferred  maketh  the  heart  sick.'  Such  things  ought  not 
to  be." 

Mr.  Kelley  here  read  part  of  a  letter  which  he  had 
received  in  behalf  of  two  honest,  hard  working  men,  who 
had   a   claim  of  nine   months'  standing  for  work  on  the 

165 


Alfred  Kelhy ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

Ohio  Canal  on  which  they  had  received  an  order  on  the 
State  Treasury  more  than  six  months  ago,  for  upward 
of  $4,000 ;  and  whose  property,  the  writer  said,  must  be 
sacrificed  unless  they  could  get  the  money.  This,  said 
Mr.  Kelley,  is  only  one  of  the  numerous  cases  of  a  simi- 
lar character  that  had  come  to  his  knowledge. 

"  It  is  said  we  cau  get  along  and  pay  the  interest  on  our 
public  debt  even  if  we  do  not  revise  our  revenue  laws.  True, 
we  may  for  a  time  longer  go  halting  and  limping  along,  as 
we  have  been  going  for  some  six  years  past,  falling  behind- 
hand some  two  or  three  hundred  thousand  dollars  annually, 
and  thus  add  this  much  yearly  to  our  public  debt.  We  may 
still  live  '  at  this  poor  dying  rate '  a  little  longer,  if  times  are 
in  other  respects  prosperous  and  the  money  market  easy.  Or 
we  may  levy  a  greater  per  centum  of  tax  on  the  taxable 
property  of  the  State  as  it  now  stands  on  the  grand  levy. 
But,  is  it  right,  is  it  jmt,  to  do  so?  Is  it  right  to  make  one 
man  pay  ten  times  as  much  tax  on  a  piece  of  property  as  is 
paid  by  his  neighbor  on  another  piece  of  equal  value  ?  If 
taxes  were  merely  nominal,  this  inequality  would  be  a  matter 
of  comparatively  small  moment. 

"  But,  taxed  as  we  are,  in  many  instances,  to  nearly  the 
entire  income  of  the  property  taxed,  it  is  of  the  last  conse- 
quence that  taxes  should  be  made  to  bear  as  equally  as  possible 
on  all  the  taxable  property  of  the  State.  It  is  wrong,  it  is 
unjust,  it  is  oppressive,  that  one  man  should  be  borne  down  to 
the  earth,  literally  crushed  with  taxes  while  his  neighbor 
more  wealthy  and  more  able  .to  pay  than  himself  should  enjoy 
almost  an  immunity  from  taxation. 

"  Let  it  not  be  said  that  the  people  have  not  considered 
this  subject.  They  have  considered  it.  It  has  been  presented 
to  them  for  years.  They  have  been  informed  of  the  de- 
ranged condition  of  our  finances,  of  the  necessity  of  increas- 
ing our  revenue,  of  the  unequal  operation  of  our  present  sys- 
tem, and  of  the  plan  now  under  consideration.  They  are  too 
intelligent  not  to  see  the  importance,  the  justice,  the  necessity, 
of  the  proposed  change.  They  are  too  patriotic,  too  honest, 
not  to  be  willing  to  bear  each  a  fair  proportion  of  the  public 
burdens.     And  they  will  not  condemn  their  representatives 

166 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

for  promptly,  honestly,  aud  fearlessly  doing  their  duty.  I  at 
least,  for  one,  am  prepared  to  appeal  to  them  for  the  rectitude 
of  my  intentions,  and  the  correctness  of  my  actions  in  this 
matter. 

"'True  it  is,'  said  Mr.  Kelley,  'some  who  now  pay  less 
than  tlieir  share,  and  whose  tax  will  be  increased  by  the  oper- 
ations of  this  bill,  may  complain.  But  of  what  will  they  com- 
plain ?  They  will  complain  that  they  are  now  required  to  hear  a 
jud  share  of  the  public  burdens  from  which  they  have  heretofore  es- 
caped. Can  any  one,  not  lost  to  all  sense  of  justice,  not  lost 
to  all  shame,  look  an  honest  man  in  the  face  and  utter  this 
complaint  ? 

"  Will  it  be  said  that  this  system  of  taxation,  if  carried 
into  operation,  will  not  immediately  relieve  the  Treasury  of 
the  State  from  its  embarrassment?*  I  do  not  expect  this 
remedy  will  work  the  instantaneous  cure  of  a  long  standing 
disease,  but  it  will  clear  the  way  and  lay  the  foundation  of  a 
system  that  will  give  adequate  and  permanent  relief  It  will, 
when  in  full  operation,  enable  us  to  raise  a  revenue  sufficient 
to  put  a  stop  to  further  accumulation  of  debt,  to  pay  interest, 
and  gradually  to  regain  the  ground  we  have  lost,  and  that 
too,  with  far  less  oppression  to  the  great  mass  of  tax-payers 
than  the  present  laws  impose  on  them.  It  will  form  a  sub- 
stantial basis  on  which  we  can  safely  predicate  measures  for 
temporary  relief. 

"All  agree  that  it  is  both  unwise  and  unsafe  to  suffer  the 
large  deficit,  which  has  for  some  years  existed,  longer  to  con- 
tinue, that  we  should  no  longer  add  interest  to  principal,  and 
thus  roll  up  the  sum  of  the  State  debt,  and  all  agree  that 
something  must  therefore  be  done.  If  to  avoid  the  manifest 
injustice  of  adding  an  additional  per  centum  of  tax  on  the 
property  of  the  State,  as  now  listed  and  valued,  we  resort  to 
the  expedient  of  bringing  on  to  the  grand  list  items  of  prop- 
erty hitherto  exempt  from  taxation,  as  for  example,  sheep  and 
hogs,  will  not  the  owners  of  these  articles  have  just  cause  of 
complaint?  May  they  not  with  reason  ask,  'why  is  our 
property  singled  out  from  the  great  mass  that  has  heretofore 
been  exempt  fnmi  taxation,  and  made  to  bear  alone  the  addi- 
tional burden  it  has  been  found  necessary  to  impose  ?  We 
do  not  complain  that  we  are  taxed,  for  this  we  admit  is  neces- 
sary, but  we  complain  that  we  are  unequally  taxed,  for  this  is 
not  necessary.' 

"  But  there  is  another  objection  to  this  course.     The  taxes 

167 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  mid  Work. 

of  the  State  have  heretofore  borne  hardest  on  the  great  farm- 
ing interest  of  the  State,  for  their  lands,  their  houses,  and 
their  cattle,  could  not  be  hid  from  the  eye  of  the  assessor,  nor 
could  the  value  of  these  items  be  kept  a  secret  in  the  bosom  of 
the  owner,  and,  if  we  now  add  hogs  and  sheep  to  the  present 
list  of  taxable  articles,  we  increase  the  burden  on  this  very 
class  of  our  citizens.  This  would  not  be  right.  No,  Mr. 
Speaker,  let  all  'property  he  taxed  according^  to  its  true  value,  and 
none  will  have  a  right  to  complain. 

"It  has  been  apprehended  by  some  that  the  present  bill 
will  increase  the  proportion  of  the  whole  taxes  of  the  State 
paid  by  the  farming  interest.  I  have  taken  much  pains  to 
ascertain  the  operations  of  the  bill  in  this  respect,  and  for  this 
purpose  I  have  resorted  to  official  documents  to  ascertain  the 
true  value  of  the  various  classes  of  property  in  the  State, 
among  which  are  the  returns  of  the  United  States  Marshal 
who  took  the  census  in  1840.  I  am,  myself,  pretty  extensively 
acquainted  with  the  value  of  lands  and  of  real  property  in 
towns  in  the  greater  part  of  the  State.  And  I  have  compared 
my  estimates  with  the  valuation  of  property  in  other  States 
and  towns  in  the  Union,  and,  though  the  table  whicli  I  now 
present  to  the  Senate  does  not  descend  into  fractions,  and  may 
in  regard  to  some  items  be  somewhat  erroneous,  i-till  I  am 
confident  that  it  is  a  near  approximation  to  the  truth,  and 
that  the  result  will  prove  that  the  farming  interest  will,  as  a 
whole,  bear  a  much  smaller  share  of  the  public  burdens  than 
it  bears  under  the  existing  system  of  taxation. 

"  True,  their  lands  will  be  valued  higher,  but  the  per 
centum  of  tax  levied  on  that  valuation  will  probably  be 
less  than  one-third  of  the  per  centum  levied  on  the  present 
valuation  ;  while  their  cattle  and  their  horses  will,  on  an  aver- 
age, be  valued  at  less  per  head,  and  on  that  valuation  will  pay 
less  than  one-third  of  the  tax  which  they  now  pay." 

Then  follows  a  table  of  all  the  different  kinds  of  prop- 
erty as  specified  in  the  bill,  with  their  estimated  quan- 
tities and  values,  the  aggregate  value  being  ^255,000,000 ; 
and  also  a  separate  estimate  of  the  value  of  the  farming 
interest  upon  which  taxes  would  be  levied.  Mr.  Kelley 
then  continued : 

168 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

"  It  will  be  observed  that  the  estimate  here  made  of  the 
gross  value  of  taxable  property  in  the  State  falls  considerably 
short  of  the  estimate  of  its  true  value,  which  I  had  the  honor 
of  presenting  to  the  Senate  at  an  early  period  of  the  present 
session.  That  was  an  estimate  of  what  I  considered  its  true 
value. 

"  This  is  an  estimate  of  the  valuation  as  I  expect  it  is  to  be 
taken  by  the  assessors ;  for,  with  whatever  honesty  and  vigi- 
lance they  may  perform  their  duty,  I  expect  a  considerable 
amount  will  escape.  Besides,  it  will  be  borne  in  mind  that 
the  exemptions  made  by  the  bill,  as  it  now  stands,  are  con- 
siderably greater  than  those  made  by  the  bill  as  at  first 
reported. 

'*  If  it  be  true,  as  I  have  no  doubt  the  event  will  prove, 
that  the  farming  interest  will,  under  the  operation  of  this  bill, 
pay  a  less  proportion  of  the  taxes  of  the  State  than  hereto- 
fore, the  inquiry  naturally  suggests  itself,  '  In  what  manner 
will  this  deficiency  be  made  up  ?  If  this  class  pays  less,  what 
ones  will  pay  more  ?' 

'*I  answer,  the  merchant,  the  money  lender  (who,  even 
under  the  law  of  last  session,  in  a  vast  number  of  instances, 
partially  escaped,  owing  to  the  imperfections  of  the  law  and 
want  of  vigilance  in  carrying  it  out),  the  owner  of  valuable 
furniture,  the  owner  of  watches  and  pianos,  the  commission 
merchant,  the  great  manufacturer,  the  machinist,  the  owner 
of  ships,  vessels,  and  steamboats,  the  owners  of  lots  and 
houses  in  some  of  our  largest  cities,  lease-holders  of  church 
lands,  and  many  others  of  lesser  note,  will  pay  this  additional 
tax  and  much  more. 

"But,  Mr.  Speaker,  let  me  repeat,  something  must  he  done. 
We  must  either  patch  up  an  old  structure,  resting  upon  a  rot- 
ten, because  unjust  and  unequal,  foundation,  or  we  must 
adopt  a  new  one,  resting  upon  tiie  eternal  rock  of  justice. 
We  can  not  escape  this  responsibility,  if  we  would.  And  this 
one  consideration  is  sufiicient  to  determine  my  course,  and 
should,  I  think,  be  sufficient  to  determine  the  course  of  every 
honest  man.     It  is  just;  it  is  right. 

"  Let  it  not  be  said  that  we  go  counter  to  the  wishes  of  the 
people  in  passing  this  bill.  It  is  known  throughout  the  State 
that  it  has  been  under  consideration  nearly  the  whole  session. 
The  principles  upon  which  it  is  founded  are  also  k6ow^n  ;  and 
yet  we  have  not  received  a  single  remcmstrauce  against  its 
passage,  but  many  petitions  in  its  favor.     In  this  case  it  may 

169 


Alfred  Kelley;  his  Life  and  Work. 

be  truly  said,  *  silence  gives  consent/  A  few  individuals,  who 
fear  that  they  shall  be  required  to  pay  a  little  more  tax  tlian 
they  have  heretofore  paid — a  few  who  fear,  as  there  are  always 
some  timid  souls  who  do  fear,  that  to  do  right  may,  with  some 
selfish  people,  be  unpopular,  have  undoubtedly  written  to 
their  representatives  to  oppose  the  bill.  But  these  letters 
should  not  be  taken  as  evidence  of  the  wishes  of  tiie  majority. 
Those  who  are  content  with  what  is  proposed  to  be  done  say 
nothing;  and  this  class  forms  an  immense  majority,  while  the 
few  who,  from  timidity  or  from  more  selfish  motives,  are  op- 
posed to  the  proposed  measure,  attempt  to  manufacture  what 
they  are  pleased  to  call  public  sentiment,  and  instruct  their 
representatives  accordingly.  I,  for  one,  do  not  feel  bound  by 
such  instructions.  I,  for  one,  am  prepared  to  go  for  a  measure 
founded  upon  the  eternal  principles  of  justice— a  measure 
which  the  exigencies  of  the  treasury  demand — and  fearlessly 
to  appeal  to  an  honest  and  intelligent  constituency  to  sustain 
me  in  my  course. 

The  motion  to  postpone  was  lost,  and  the  bill  passed 
by  a  vote  of  17  to  16,  being,  with  a  very  few  exceptions, 
a  party  division. 

In  the  House  the  same  expedients  were  adopted  for 
the  purpose  of  defeating  it  as  were  resorted  to  in  the 
Senate ;  and  obnoxious  and  incongruous  amendments 
were  offered  to  render  it  unpopular  should  it  become  a 
law.  In  that  body  it  was  in  charge  of  the  Honorable 
Benjamin  S.  Cowen,  the  representative  of  Belmont 
County,  who  discussed  and  managed  it  with  marked 
ability.  On  the  24th  of  February  it  passed  the  House 
with  a  number  of  amendments  by  a  vote  of  35  to  29, 
also  with  a  few  exceptions  a  party  division.  The 
amendments  were  adjusted  between  the  Houses,  and  the 
bill  became  a  law  on  the  2d  of  March,  1846. 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

On  that  day,  for  the  first  time  in  Ohio,  and  perhaps  in 
any  State,  it  was  enacted, 

"That  all  property,  whether  real  or  personal,  within  this 
State,  aud  the  moneys  and  credits  of  persons  residing  therein, 
except  such  as  is  hereinafter  expressly  exempted,  shall  be 
subject  to  taxation ;  and  such  property,  moneys,  and  credits, 
or  the  value  thereof,  shall  be  entered  on  the  lists  of  taxable 
property,  for  that  purpose,  in  the  manner  prescribed  by  this 
act." 

The  principal  exemptions  were  public  property,  burial- 
places,  property  used  for  public  worship.  State  stocks, 
household  and  kitchen  furniture  to  the  amount  of  two 
hundred  dollars,  wearing  apparel  excluding  watches,  food 
provided  for  the  family,  and  farming  and  mechanical  im- 
plements and  tools  in  actual  use  ;  and  each  person  was 
also  allowed  to  deduct  his  liabilities  from  his  moneys 
and  certain  specified  credits.  The  details  of  the  law 
fully  carried  out  and  enforced  the  principle  upon  which 
it  was  based,  as  declared  in  the  first  section. 

The  contest  over  this  law  did  not  end  Avith  its  enact- 
ment. During  its  pendency  it  was  associated  with  the 
banking  law  of  the  previous  winter,  and  the  same  party 
which  opposed  the  one  opposed  the  other  also.  The 
revenue  law  was  made  the  main  issue  in  the  campaign 
of  1846 ;  and  it,  with  the  banking  law,  was  referred  to 
by  the  leading  Democratic  paper  as  "  the  two  laws 
against  which  the  Democracy  are  waging  a  war  of  ex- 
termination." The  same  paper  spoke  of  it  also  as  the 
"  plunder  law."  The  banks  were  called  "  Kelley's 
swindling  shops ;  "  and  "  the  tax  law  a  failure  "  was  the 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  Ms  Life  and  Work. 

heading  of  more  than  one  editorial  article.  During  the 
campaign  a  paper  was  printed  and  circulated,  called  the 
Tax  Killer.  The  canvass  was  unusually  embittered  by 
the  most  unjustifiable  attacks  upon  the  laws,  and  apply- 
ing the  most  opprobrious  epithets  to  their  author.  Not- 
withstanding the  extraordinary  eiForts  which  were  made 
to  defeat  it,  the  law  was  sustained ;  and  in  its  practical 
working  all  the  results  claimed  by  its  advocates  were 
fully  realized. 
The  total  value  of  taxable  property  in  1846 

under  the  old  law  was  .  .  .  |150,293,132 
In  1847,  under  the  new  law,  it  was     .  $410,763,100 

The  personalty  in  1846  was  .  .  .  $40,352,496 
The  personalty  in  1847  was  .  .  .  $83,564,430 
The    aggregate   of   State    taxes   levied   on 

$150,293,132,  in  1846,  was         .         .  $1,214,897 

The   aggregate   of  State    taxes   levied   on 

$410,763,100,  in  1847,  was     .        *.         .      $1,331,398 
The  per  cent  on  the  value  of  taxable  prop- 
erty for  State  purposes  in  1846  was    .  8  mills. 
The  per  cent  for  the  same  purposes  in  1847 

was 2}  mills. 

The  repeal  of  the  law,  or  even  a  modification  of  its 
principle,  was  never  afterward  proposed.  That  prin- 
ciple was  embodied  in  the  constitution  of  1851,  and 
nearly  all  the  important  provisions  of  the  law  enacted 
under  that  constitution  are  taken  from  the  law  of  1846, 
and  are  still  in  force. 

The  benefit  which  Ohio  has  derived  from  this  law  is 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  Ms  Life  and  Work. 

like  that  which  characterizes  the  results  of  every  act  of 
Mr.  Kelley's  public  life.  The  State  has  never  been  em- 
barrassed for  the  want  of  funds  ;  its  credit  has  been 
equal  to  that  of  any  other  State,  and  even  to  that  of  the 
General  Government;  the  debt  has  been  reduced  to  less 
than  four  millions  after  paying  all  the  expenses  incident 
to  the  Rebellion.  And,  although  the  law  has  not  al- 
ways been  faithfully  administered,  and  taxable  property 
has  been  kept  off  the  duplicate  by  unworthy  devices  and 
illegal  expedients,  still  there  has  been  no  serious  indi- 
vidual oppression  or  public  embarrassment.  Above  all, 
every  tax-payer  has  been  conscious  that  the  credit  and 
honor  of  the  State  has  been  above  reproach,  and  also 
that  they  are  beyond  the  reach  of  demagogues  and  secret 
or  open  enemies.  It  has  outlived  its  opponents,  and  is 
an  enduring  monument  to  the  wisdom  and  sagacity  of  its 

author. 

173 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 


CHAPTER   XV. 

RAILROAD   BUILDING. 

The  beginning  of  railroads. — The,  Columbus  and  Xenia  Rail- 
road.— Selling  bonds  in  New  York. — The  Cleveland.  Columbus 
and  Cincinnati  Railroad. — The  Cleveland,  Painesville,  and  Ash- 
tabula.— Difficulties  about  gauge. — A  new  battle  of  Erie, — A 
strategic  movement. — Buying  up  a  righ^t  of  way. — Mob-law  at 
Erie. — Mr.  Kelley's  "  Five  Mile  Farm," 


Forty  years  ago  the  transportation  of  produce,  mer- 
chandise, and  passengers  in  Ohio  was  almost  exclusively 
confined  to  canals,  wagons,  and  stage-coaches.  There 
were  but  two  railroads  in  the  State ;  and  they  were  con- 
structed in  the  rudest  "form,  having  strap  rails  which 
rendered  them  dangerous  as  well  as  rough  and  uncom- 
fortable for  passengers.  These  roads  were  from  Cincin- 
nati to  Xenia  and  from  Springfield  to  Sandusky.  We 
can  hardly  realize  that  our  great  system  of  railroads  in 
Ohio  and  in  the  West  was  commenced  and  built  up 
within  forty  years.  In  1847  the  only  public  mode  of 
traveling  in  every  direction  from  our  capital  was  by  the 
slow  and  unpleasant  stage-coach  and  along  the  line  of 
the  canal ;  and  a  portion  of  the  year  the  inhabitants  re- 
mained at  home,  on  account  of  the  condition  of  the  roads 
and  the  swollen  streams,  unless  compelled  by  necessity 
to  travel. 

In    1845    a   charter   was    obtained,    and    a   company 

174 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

org'Baized,  to  construct  a  railway  from  Columbus  to 
Xenia.  Some  surveys  were  made  and  so  far  completed 
as  to  be  ready  for  contracts  on  a  part  of  the  line.  The 
company  as  organized  was  unable  to  proceed  any  fur- 
ther, and  it  was  reorganized  by  changing  a  portion  of 
the  Board  of  Directors  and  by  the  election  of  Mr.  Kel- 
ley as  its  president.  He  accepted  the  office,  and  with 
the  aid  of  the  engineer  in  a  short  time  the  route  was 
established  and  the  road  put  under  contract.  Mr.  Kel- 
ley took  the  bonds  of  the  company  to  New  York,  ne- 
gotiated their  sale,  and  procured  sufficient  money,  in  ad- 
dition to  the  proceeds  of  the  stock,  to  complete  and 
equip  the  road.  These  were  among  the  first,  if  not  the 
first,  western  railroad  bonds  which  were  sold  in  New 
York.  He  was  well-known  to  the  capitalists  of  that 
city,  who  had  unusual  confidence  in  his  judgment,  and 
felt  assured  that  he  would  not  undertake  any  enterprise 
unless  it  was  meritorious  and  was  abundant  security  for 
both  the  principal  and  interest  of  its  liabilities.  The 
road  was  finished  with  the  heavy  T  rail,  and  was  the  first 
road  upon  which  that  rail  was  used  in  Ohio.  The  road 
was  completed  and  opened  for  traffic  in  February, 
1850. 

A  few  years  previous  to  1847  a  charter  was  obtained 
and  a  company  formed  for  the  construction  of  a  railway 
from  Cleveland  to  Columbus,  under  the  name  of  "  The 
Cleveland,  Columbus,  and  Cincinnati  Railroad  Company." 
The  incorporators  were  all  or  nearly  all  citizens  of  Cleve- 
land.    Books  were  opened  for  stock  subscriptions,  but  a 

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Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work, 

sufficient  amount  could  not  be  procured  to  justify  th« 
commencement  of  the  work.  Efforts  were  made  at  dif- 
ferent times  to  procure  subscriptions,  with  but  little  suc- 
cess. Those  who  had  charge  of  it  made  a  last  and  ener- 
getic effort  in  the  summer  of  1847,  but  were  as  unsuc- 
cessful as  they  had  been  previously.  It  was  then  pro- 
posed, by  some  of  the  ardent  friends  of  the  project,  that 
Mr.  Kelley  should  be  procured  to  accept  the  presidency 
of  the  company.  This  was  mentioned  to  those  who  had 
subscribed  stock  and  others,  and  resulted  in  additional 
subscriptions  to  a  considerable  amount,  on  condition  that 
he  should  be  such  president ;  some  of  them  remarking 
that  if  he  took  charge  of  it  the  road  would  be  built,  and 
all  feeling  assured  that  he  would  not  undertake  it  unless 
he  thought  it  would  be  pecuniarily  successful. 

About  the  first  of  August  Mr.  Richard  Hilliard  and 
Judge  Thomas  M.  Kelley,  a  brother  of  Alfred  Kelley, 
both  of  Cleveland,  were  requested  by  those  interested  to 
go  to  Columbus  and  confer  with  the  latter  on  the  subject. 
They  went  down,  and  a  long  evening  was  devoted  to  a 
full  discussion  of  the  project,  the  previous  failures,  the 
effect  of  the  road  if  built,  and  the  difficulties  which 
had  been  encountered,  and  which  the  committee  thought 
insurmountable  except  by  Mr.  Kelley.  He  declined  to 
accept  the  presidency  offered  to  him,  on  account  of  his 
long  public  service,  his  need  of  rest,  his  private  affairs 
which  had  been  neglected,  and  above  all  his  desire  to 
spend  the  remainder  of  his  life  with  his  family.  Mrs. 
Kelley  made  an  urgent  appeal  in  her  behalf  and  that  of 

176 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

her  children  that  he  might  be  allowed  to  remain  at  home. 
The  interview  was  pleasant,  though  the  committee  was 
much  disappointed ;  and,  as  they  parted  with  Mr.  Kelley 
at  the  door,  Mr.  Hilliard,  grasping  his  hand,  said :  "  I 
appreciate  your  reasons  for  declining  our  request,  and  I 
admit  we  have  no  claims  on  you.  This  project,  how- 
ever, is  very  important  to  Cleveland  and  the  State,  and 
should  it  fail  because  you  decline  to  take  hold  of  it,  will 
it  not  be  a  source  of  regret  the  residue  of  your  life  ?" 
To  which  Mr.  Kelley  replied :  *'  I  will  see  you  again  in 
the  morning."  Mr.  Hilliard  knew  that  his  last  appeal 
would  have  more  influence  with  Mr.  Kelley  than  all 
other  considerations  combined. 

In  the  morning  they  met,  and  Mr.  Kelley  remarked 
that  the  subject  of  their  conversation  the  evening  before 
had  occasioned  him  much  thought  and  anxiety  during 
the  night,  and  he  had  made  up  his  mind  that  it  was  his 
duty  to  yield  to  their  request. 

The  committee  returned  to  Cleveland  ;  the  president 
then  in  ofiice  resigned  ;  and  on  the  13th  of  August  Mr. 
Kelley  was  made  president  and  took  charge  of  the  road. 

A  meeting  was  soon  held  in  Cleveland,  at  which  he  and 
others  presented  the  advantages  of  the  road,  and  there 
was  a  large  increase  of  stock  subscriptions,  which,  to- 
gether with  subscriptions  at  Columbus  and  along  the 
line,  and  the  bonds  of  the  road,  enabled  him  to  proceed 
with  the  work. 

His  familiarity  with  the  topography  of  the  State  en- 
abled him  and  the  engineers  to  examine  and  locate  the 
12  177 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

line  in  a  comparatively  short  time.  The  entire  road, 
though  one  hundred  and  forty-five  miles  in  length,  was 
all  included  in  one  contract,  which  was  executed  accord- 
ing to  its  terms,  and  the  road  was  completed  with  heavy 
T  rails  and  opened  for  business  on  the  22d  of  February, 
A.  D.  1851.  While  the  grading  was  in  progress,  Mr. 
Kelley  went  to  Wales  and  procured  the  iron. 

The  opening  of  this  road  was  celebrated  by  the  inhab- 
itants of  Cleveland  with  unusual  demonstrations.  It 
was  the  first  leading  to  that  city,  and  contributed  much 
to  the  growth  and  wealth  which  have  since  made  it 
famous.  The  success  of  the  road  and  its  effect  upon 
Cleveland  were  particularly  gratifying  to  Mr.  Kelley,  as 
he  never  lost  any  of  his  attachment  to  his  early  home 
and  associates. 

These  two  roads  were  feeders  to  each  other,  and  from 
the  time  they  were  completed  yielded  large  profits  to 
the  stockholders,  profits  which  far  exceeded  their  expec- 
tations, and  also  any  estimates  furnished  to  them  by  Mr. 
Kelley. 

While  these  roads  were  in  progress,  a  charter  was  ob- 
tained for  the  *'  Cleveland,  Painesville,  and  Ashtabula 
Railroad  Company,"  authorizing  the  construction  of  a 
road  from  Cleveland  to  the  Ohio  line.  It  was  intended, 
also,  to  extend  the  road  to  Erie  in  Pennsylvania.  A 
road  from  Toledo  to  Cleveland  had  also  been  commenced. 
The  road  from  Cleveland  to  Erie  would  complete  a  line 
to  New  York  City,  as  the  New  York  roads  were  expected 
to  construct  a  road  from  Buffalo  to  Erie.     That  the  road 

178 


Alfred  Kelley;  Mb  Life  and  Work. 

from  Cleveland  to  Erie,  when  completed,  would  be  a 
public  benefit  and  profitable  to  the  stockholders  was 
evident.  A  continuous  line  from  Cincinnati  to  New 
York  City  would  thus  be  secured,  and  this  last  link  in 
the  chain  would  receive  all  the  passengers  and  freight 
from  the  South  and  West.  Some  surveys  had  been 
made  and  parts  of  the  line  marked  for  location.  Mr. 
Kelley  had  been  a  director  from  the  time  the  company 
was  organized,  and  was  appointed  president  on  the  19th 
of  March,  1857. 

Very  soon  after  his  appointment  he  passed  over  the 
route  with  an  engineer,  and,  after  a  thorough  examina- 
tion, changed  much  of  the  line  to  lower  ground  and  to 
the  present  location.  There  was  no  serious  difiiculty  to 
encounter,  and  there  was  no  incident  of  special  interest 
in  the  construction  of  the  road  to  the  Pennsylvania  line. 
Its  construction  from  that  line  to  and  through  the  city  of 
Erie  presented  difficulties  which,  if  they  had  been  known, 
few  would  have  undertaken  to  overcome. 

There  were  two  roads  through  the  State  of  New  York, 
one  of  which  terminated  at  Bufi'alo  and  the  other  at 
Dunkirk,  both  places  being  on  Lake  Erie.  One  of  them, 
the  southern,  had  adopted  the  broad  or  six  feet  gauge, 
and  the  other,  the  New  York  Central,  a  gauge  of  four 
feet,  eight  and  a  half  inches.  Each  of  these  roads  de- 
sired to  extend  its  line  to  Erie,  in  order  to  connect  with 
the  western  road.  The  city  of  Erie  was  quite  willing 
the  roads  should  be  constructed,  but  was  determined  that 
neither  should  have  the  Ohio  gauge   of  four  feet,  ten 

179 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

inches.  If,  therefore,  the  road  east  of  Erie  adopted  the 
wide  gauge,  or  one  narrower  than  the  Ohio  road,  all 
passengers  would  necessarily  change  cars,  and  all  freight 
be  trans-shipped  at  that  place. 

The  controversy  between  the  New  York  roads  contin- 
ued a  considerable  time.  After  much  negotiation,  in 
consideration  of  the  fact  that  the  railroads  from  Cleve- 
land and  Toledo,  then  in  progress,  were  of  the  four  feet 
and  ten  inch  gauge,  it  was  agreed  that  the  New  York 
Central  should  be  extended  from  Buffalo  to  Erie  with  the 
same  or  the  Ohio  gauge,  and  should  be  so  managed  as 
not  to  give  to  either  of  the  great  railroad  interests  any 
advantage  over  the  other.  It  was  assumed  that  the  rail- 
road company  in  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  having  a 
charter  to  build  a  road  from  Erie  to  the  New  York  line, 
would  adopt  the  same  gauge.  That  road  was  unfortu- 
nately under  the  control  of  inhabitants  of  Erie,  who  not 
only  refused  to  do  what  was  expected,  but  commenced  to 
lay  down  a  six-foot  track  on  their  road  of  nineteen  miles 
in  length.  They  proceeded  still  further,  and  procured  a 
law  to  be  passed,  called  the  "  gauge  law,"  requiring  all 
roads  from  Erie  to  the  New  York  State  line  to  adopt  a 
six  feet  or  a  four  feet,  eight  and  a  half  inch  gauge,  and 
between  Erie  and  the  Ohio  line  a  gauge  of  four  feet  and 
ten  inches.  By  this  means  they  aimed  to  secure  a  per- 
petual change  of  passengers  and  freight  at  the  city  of 
Erie. 

Mr.  Kelley  and  the  company  he  represented  were  op- 
posed to  any  change  of  the  gauge  west  of  Buffalo,  and 

180 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

therefore  they  incurred  the  displeasure  and  ill-will  of 
Erie  and  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  to  such  an  extent 
as  to  prevent  any  favorable  legislation  or  grant  of  au- 
thority to  construct  a  road  to  Erie. 

Although  it  would  seem  to  be  essential,  in  order  to 
procure  a  change  of  passengers  and  a  trans-shipment  of 
freight  at  the  city  of  Erie,  that  a  road  should  be  con- 
structed from  the  Ohio  line  to  Erie,  authority  for  that 
purpose  could  not  be  obtained,  and  the  project  would 
have  failed,  for  the  time  being  at  least,  if  it  had  not  been 
under  the  control  of  one  possessed  of  an  extraordinary 
share  of  originating  talent,  as  well  as  courage  in  the  ac- 
complishment of  what  was  right. 

Mr.  Kelley  ascertained  that  the  Franklin  Canal  Com- 
pany had  a  charter  which  was  in  full  force,  author- 
izing the  construction  of  a  canal  along  the  line  of  the 
proposed  road.  An  amendment  to  the  charter  also  au- 
thorized the  construction  of  ^  railroad  instead  of  a  canal, 
and  the  use  of  the  towing  path  as  the  bed  of  the  road. 
By  an  arrangement  with  the  stockholders,  he  procured  a 
majority  of  the  shares  and  transferred  them  to  the 
Cleveland,  Painesville,  and  Ashtabula  Railroad  Company. 
He  then  commenced  building  the  road  from  the  Ohio 
State  line  to  Erie  under  this  charter.  The  city  of  Erie 
procured  an  injunction,  and  although,  on  the  final  hear- 
ing, the  injunction  was  dissolved  on  technical  grounds, 
it  was  held  by  the  court  that  the  charter  did  not  embrace 
about  five  miles  from  the  Ohio  State  line,  east  to  what 
the  court  claimed  to  be  the  nearest  point  of  the  canal  as 

181 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

described  in  its  charter.  There  were  thus  five  miles  for 
which  there  was  no  charter,  and  the  city  of  Erie,  sus- 
tained by  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  now  opposed  any 
grant  of  authority  unless  the  gauge  was  such  as  to  re- 
quire a  change  of  passengers  and  freight  at  that  city. 

In  this  dilemma  Mr.  Kelley  proposed  to  the  railroad 
company  that  some  of  its  younger  members  should  buy 
the  land  along  the  five  miles,  build  the  road,  and  contract 
with  the  company  for  the  use  of  it  on  fair  terms.  None 
were  willing  to  take  the  risk.  He  then  made  an  arrange- 
ment with  the  company  to  borrow  from  it  the  money  nec- 
essary for  the  purpose,  and  he  undertook  to  complete 
that  part  of  the  road  on  his  own  account.  He  was  de- 
termined that  neither  Erie  nor  the  State  of  Pennsylvania 
should  prevent  the  construction  of  this  great  thorough- 
fare between  the  East  and  the  West. 

It  needs  no  explanation  to  satisfy  any  one  of  the  great 
risk  involved  in  such  an  undertaking,  even  if  the  hostility 
of  Erie  and  the  State  were  not  considered.  Mr.  Kelley 
knew  very  well  that  without  this  five  miles  the  residue  of 
the  road  would  be  comparatively  valueless,  and  therefore 
undertook  the  work,  notwithstanding  the  pecuniary  hazard. 
He  went  immediately  upon  the  line,  and  very  soon  became 
acquainted  with  Judge  James  Miles,  the  owner  of  a  farm 
of  several  thousand  acres  through  which  it  passed,  and 
who  appreciated  the  importance  of  the  road  and  the 
suicidal  folly  of  the  city  of  Erie.  The  Judge  was  widely 
known,  being  connected  with  the  agricultural  interests  of 
the  State  and  with  its  agricultural  college,  and  being  very 

182 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

influential  in  elevating  and  improving  both  the  farming 
and  farmers  of  the  State.  He  was  familiar  with  the 
value  of  lands,  and  acquainted  with  most  of  the  owners 
along  the  line  of  the  road.  His  character  for  honor  and 
ingenuousness  was  such  as  to  command  the  respect  and 
confidence  of  every  one.  The  two  soon  appreciated  each 
other  and  became  warm  friends. 

With  the  aid  of  Judge  Miles  Mr.  Kelley  bought  the 
right  of  way,  where  it  could  be  obtained,  and  where  it 
could  not  he  bought  the  whole  of  the  owner's  land 
through  which  the  road  passed.  When  the  purchases 
were  concluded,  he  was  the  proprietor  of  many  farms. 
By  a  law  of  the  State  certain  county  or  township  officers 
were  authorized  to  grant  the  right  to  cross  the  wagon 
roads.  This  authority  was  obtained,  and  thus  a  connec- 
tion was  made  with  the  Franklin  Canal  Company,  and 
the  road  was  completed  to  Erie  in  November,  1852. 

Previous  to  this,  the  Eastern  roads,  with  the  Franklin 
Canal  Company,  and  including  the  Erie  and  New  York 
State  Line  road,  had  a  meeting,  and,  after  much  consul- 
tation and  many  concessions,  agreed  upon  a  plan  by 
which  the  latter  road  should  be  completed  with  the  west- 
ern gauge.  Notwithstanding  this  agreement,  the  con- 
nection of  the  two  was  resisted  in  the  city  of  Erie  by 
tearing  up  the  tracks  and  other  acts  of  violence.  Mr. 
Kelley  was  threatened  with  being  mobbed  if  he  should 
presume  to  appear  in  Erie.  He  was  informed  of  the 
threat  while  he  was  at  Judge  Miles's  house,  near  what  is 
now  Miles  Grove.     He  and  the  Judge  immediately  drove 

183 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

to  Erie,  and  walked  through  the  streets  without  molesta- 
tion, except  that,  just  as  they  were  leaving,  the  Judge  was 
hit,  but  not  injured,  by  a  brick  thrown  by  some  person 
who  kept  at  a  safe  distance  from  the  two.  A  few  of  the 
citizens  did  not  participate  in  the  folly  of  the  majority, 
and  the  hostility  between  the  two  parties  was  such  as  to 
disturb  their  social  relations,  the  effects  of  which  are  said 
to  have  continued  to  this  day. 

The  proceedings  of  Erie  and  of  the  State  involved 
much  litigation  in  the  State  courts,  but  the  railroad  was 
used,  notwithstanding  delays  and  losses,  and  to  some  ex- 
tent was  protected  by  an  order  of  the  United  States, 
made  at  the  request  of  Mr.  Kelley,  declaring  it  a  "  post 
road."  This  state  of  things  continued  until  January, 
1854,  when  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  repealed  the  char- 
ter of  the  Franklin  Canal  Company.  This  act  presented 
the  question  of  authority  on  the  part  of  the  State  to  re- 
voke a  charter  after  millions  had  been  legitimately  ex- 
pended in  pursuance  of  its  provisions.  This  question 
was  presented  to  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  United  States 
by  the  attorneys  of  the  company,  Wm.  Meredith  and 
E.  M.  Stanton,  the  latter  of  whom  was  afterward  Secre- 
tary of  War.  Mr.  Stanton  exhibited  in  this  and  other 
cases  connected  with  the  controversy  the  same  prompt- 
ness, energy,  and  commanding  talent  which  character- 
ized his  official  conduct  during  the  rebellion. 

Before  the  case  was  presented  to  the  court  for  final 
adjudication,  and  in  May,  1854,  the  State  settled  the 
whole  controversy  by  granting  a  charter  for  a  road  from 

184 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work, 

the  Ohio  State  line  to  Erie,  and  to  connect  with  the 
eastern  road  at  that  place.  It  was  grudgingly  done,  and 
upon  terms  which  an  honorable  individual  would  hardly 
have  exacted.  One  of  the  surviving  directors  who  was 
familiar  with  all  the  proceedings  thus  summarizes  the 
action  of  Mr.  Ketley  : 

"  Mr.  Kelley  purchaaed  the  right  of  way  (and  in  many 
cases  entire  farms)  in  his  personal  right,  and  built  the  road  as 
the  sole  proprietor,  and  thus  incurred  large  risk  and  responsi- 
bilities, from  which  he  was  only  relieved,  when,  after  great 
delays  and  vast  expense,  a  charter  was  finally  obtained,  he 
conveyed  his  five  miles  to  the  corporation  upon  terms  which 
were  satisfactory  to  both  parties." 

He  thus  in  1854  closed  his  connection  with  railroads, 
except  as  a  director,  in  which  capacity  he  was  instru- 
mental in  establishing  rules  and  regulations  beneficial 
both  to  corporations  and  the  public. 

The  presidency  of  other  roads,  coupled  with  large 
salaries,  was  offered  to  him,  but  they  were  declined  be- 
cause he  considered  them  in  advance  of  the  business  of 
the  country,  and  not  therefore  likely  to  be  profitable  to 
the  stockholders  or  a  benefit  to  the  State.  In  one  or 
two  instances  his  opinions  on  this  subject  were  severely 
criticised  at  the  time ;  but  subsequent  events  have  veri- 
fied the  correctness  of  his  judgment.  A  gentleman  to 
whom  one  of  the  letters  was  addressed,  said  to  the 
writer  of  this  after  Mr.  Kelley's  death,  "  it  reads  like 

prophecy." 

185 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  lAfe  and  Work. 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

CLOSING   YEARS. 

The  fugitive  slave  law. — He-election  to  the  Senate. — Sessions 
of  1 855-6  and  1856-7„ — The  improper  use  of  the  public  funds. — 
Investigation  of  treasury;  alarming  disclosures. — Bills  to  secure 
public  funds. — Bill  to  authorize  payment  of  taxes  semi-annu- 
ally.— Suggestion  to  Mr.  Yaple  as  to  public  schools. — Guarding 
the  treasury.— The  new  State  House.— Mr.  Kelley's  address  of 
welcome. — Close  of  his  legislative  career. — The  end. 


When  Mr.  Kelley  had  completed  the  railroads  which 
connected  the  East  with  the  West  and  South,  and  they 
were  in  successful  and  profitable  operation,  he  regarded 
his  work  for  the  public  as  finished.  The  eflfects  of  age, 
excessive  labor,  and  canal  malaria  upon  his  originally 
vigorous  constitution,  became  more  and  more  evident. 
He  therefore  contemplated  a  period  of,  rest  during  the 
few  remaining  years  of  his  life.  In  this  he  was  disap- 
pointed. 

Both  the  State  and  Nation  were  then  agitated  by  im- 
portant and  exciting  political  questions.  In  the  latter 
the  fugitive  slave  law  and  the  Dred  Scott  decision  were 
producing  a  state  of  public  feeling  which  was  not  allayed 
until  after  slavery  was  abolished  and  the  rebellion  was 
suppressed.  In  the  former  there  were  questions  of  State 
policy  growing  out  of  an  apprehension  in  the  minds  of 
many  that  the  funds  of  the  State  were  not  sufficiently 

186 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

secured  against  their  improper  use  or  loss.  Public  at- 
tention was  thus  again  directed  to  Mr.  Kelley  as  a  nec- 
essary public  agent,  and  in  the  fall  of  1855  he  was  again 
elected  to  the  Senate. 

Although  but  little  more  than  thirty  years  have  elapsed, 
it  seems  almost  incredible  that  at  that  time  a  human  be- 
ing could  be  seized  in  one  State  and  carried  off  to  an- 
other, as  a  slave,  without  even  a  trial  or  investigation  as 
to  his  actual  condition  ;  and  that  a  slave  was  mere  prop- 
erty, and  had  no  rights  which  a  white  man  w^as  bound  to 
respect.  It  seemed  to  Mr.  Kelley  that  a  persom  claimed 
as  a  slave  ought  to  have  the  right  to  an  impartial  trial 
by  jury  before  he  should  be  carried  by  force  into  a  slave 
State  ;  and  one  of  his  first  acts  as  a  member  of  the 
Senate  of  1856  was  the  introduction  of  a  resolution 
directing  the  Judiciary  Committee  to  inquire  into  and 
report  upon  that  subject.  Upon  examination  it  was 
ascertained  that  the  State  was  powerless,  and  could  only 
protest  against  such  wrong  and  injustice,  which  the 
Legislature  did  respectfully  and  decidedly. 

At  this  session,  as  at  many  previous  ones,  Mr.  Kel- 
ley was  made  chairman  of  the  Finance  Committee.  It 
had  long  been  conceded  that  when  there  were  difficulties 
to  surmount  or  new  and  important  objects  to  be  at- 
tained, no  one  was  so  likely  to  overcome  the  one,  or  de- 
vise a  mode  to  accomplish  the  other,  as  Mr.  Kelley.  At 
this  session  the  Finance  Committee  had  much  to  do. 
His  own  observation,  and  facts  which  came  to  his  knowl- 
edge from  other   sources,    satisfied  him  that  the  funds 

187 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work, 

belonging  to  the  State  Treasury  had  been  improperly- 
used  for  a  number  of  years ;  and  he  was  apprehensive 
that  the  State  had  been,  and  was  then,  wronged  by  the 
misconduct  of  its  Treasurers.  For  the  purpose  of  ascer- 
taining the  truth  in  regard  to  the  Public  Treasury  he, 
as  chairman,  introduced  a  resolution  that  the  Finance 
Committee  "  be  instructed  to  ascertain  and  report  to 
the  Senate  the  amount,  character,  and  condition  of  the 
funds  in  the  treasury,  and  that  for  this  purpose  they  be 
authorized  to  employ  some  competent  accountant  to  as- 
sist them  in  making  the  necessary  examinations ;"  which 
was  immediately  adopted. 

The  resolution  was  delivered  to  the  Treasurer,  who  re- 
plied that  a  committee  of  one  branch  of  the  Legislature 
had  no  authority  to  examine  the  treasury,  and  he  would 
not  recognize  an  examining  committee  from  the  Senate 
alone.  He  denied  also  the  right  of  the  committee  to 
employ  an  accountant  to  aid  them  in  such  examination. 

This  communication,  on  Mr.  Kelley's  motion,  was  re- 
ferred to  the  judiciary  committee,  who  made  a  short  and 
decisive  report,  which  opened  the  doors  and  vaults  of  the 
treasury  to  a  committee  of  the  Senate. 

Near  the  close  of  the  session,  and  on  the  7th  of  April, 
the  committee  made  a  report,  in  which  it  was  clearly 
demonstrated  that  there  were  "  checks,  drafts,  bills  of 
exchange  and  certificates  of  deposit,  the  gross  sum  being 
$296,291.26,  which  had  been  held  (with  but  few  excep- 
tions, and  for  comparatively  small  sums),  from  fifteen 

188 


Alfred  Kelley;  Ms  Life  and  Work. 

days  to  upwards  of  two  months  without  having  been  pre- 
sented either  for  acceptance  or  payment."  That  the 
committee  had  "  reason  to  believe,  viewing  the  con- 
dition of  the  funds  in  the  treasury,  and  the  large  bal- 
ance due  from  the  late  Treasurer  at  the  time  of  giving 
up  his  office,  the  various  times  when  parts  of  that 
balance  were  paid  to  the  present  Treasurer,  and  the  fact 
that  there  still  remains  a  large  balance  in  his  hands,  that 
most  of  the  drafts,  certificates  of  deposit,  and  accept- 
ances now  in  the  treasury,  were  paid  to  the  present  by 
the  late  Treasurer,  and  were  obtained  by  him  with  the 
understanding,  on  the  part  of  the  parties  furnishing  the 
same,  that  they  would  not  be  presented  for  payment  until 
the  demands  of  the  treasury  should  make  it  necessary 
to  demand  their  payment." 

The  committee  further  reported  that  there  was  belong- 
ing to  the  treasury  the  sum  of  $147,048.49,  consisting 
of  drafts,  etc.,  of  a  bank  and  a  firm  which  were  consid- 
ered, as  far  as  regarded  these  operations,  ^'  as  substan- 
tially one  concern ;  "  that  ^'  it  also  appears  that  both  the 
late  and  present  Treasurers  have  been,  if  they  are  not 
now,  interested  in  the  bank,"  and  that  proceedings  were 
then  pending  to  test  the  question  whether  the  charter  of 
the  bank  was  forfeited. 

They  also  found  that  the  next  preceding  Treasurer 
had  given  his  predecessor  a  receipt  in  full  for  the  balance 
due  by  him  without  specifying  the  amount,  when  he  still 
had  in  his  hands  $302,115.86. 

It  was  also  discovered  that  when  the  present  Treasurer 

189 


Alfred  Kelley ;  Ms  Life  and  Work 

took  possession  of  the  office,  there  was  an  unpaid  bal- 
ance in  his  predecessor's  hands  of  $212,432.57.  A  part 
of  this  sum  was  due  from  a  Cincinnati  bank  which  had 
failed,  a  part  from  a  Toledo  bank  which  had  also  failed, 
a  part  from  an  individual  in  Dayton  who  had  executed  a 
deed  of  trust  for  the  benefit  of  the  State,  and  a  part 
from  a  firm  in  Cincinnati  which  also  had  failed. 
The  committee  then  add : 

"  When  to  these  circumstances  we  add  the  declaration  on 

oath  of ,  tliere  seems  to  be  little  room  to  doubt  that 

the  late  Treasurer  was  interested  in  the  bank  (a  bank  in  Vir- 
ginia), and  used  the  funds  of  the  State  to  put  it  in  operation, 
or  at  least  to  sustain  its  credit. 

"  The  committee  can  not  forbear  to  express  their  decided 
disapprobation  of  the  practice  of  using  the  public  money 
either  directly  or  indirectly,  for  the  purposes  of  private  emol- 
uments, or  to  build  up  or  foster  any  private  company  or  insti- 
tution, more  especially  one  in  which  any  officer  or  agent  hav- 
ing the  custody  of  such  moneys  may  l)e  interested. 

*'  Stringent  laws  of  a  penal  charactar,  combined  with  fre- 
quent and  searching  examinations  by  the  Legislature  or  its 
committees  into  the  management  of  the  moneys  and  finances 
of  the  State,  seem  to  be  absolutely  necessary  to  prevent  great 
pecuniary  losses  to  the  State,  and  a  still  greater  depreciation 
of  public  morals. 

"  Since  the  examination  of  the  Treasury  Department  by  a 
commission  created  for  the  purpose  about  nine  years  ago,  no 
careful  examination  of  that  department  appears  to  have  been 
made.  Years  have  gone  by  since  there  has  been  even  a  criti- 
cal comparison  of  the  books,  accounts,  and  vouchers  of  the 
Auditor  and  Treasurer  of  State.  Thus  the  great  object  of 
making  the  Auditor's  office  a  complete  check  on  that  of  the 
Treasurer  has  for  years  been  rendered  entirely  abortive. 

"The  impossibility  of  going  into  a  critical  examination  of 
all  the  transactions,  book  accounts,  and  vouchers  of  the 
Treasury  Department,  extending  through  a  period  of  nine 
years,  by  a  committee  of  the  Senate  during  the  session,  will 

190 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

at  once  be  seen  and  acknowledged.  Even  if  ordinary  legis- 
lative duties  did  not  occupy  most  of  the  time  and  attention  of 
the  members  of  the  committee,  the  entire  period  of  the  ses- 
sion would  hardly  suffice  to  make  such  an  examination." 

The  committee  reported  a  joint  resolution  for  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  joint  committee  to  examine  during  the 
recess  of  the  General  Assembly  the  books,  accounts, 
vouchers,  records,  and  proceedings  of  the  Auditor  of 
State,  the  Treasurer  of  State,  the  Commissioners  of  the 
Canal  Fund  and  the  Sinking  Fund.  The  Legislature,  in 
pursuance  of  the  suggestion,  provided  for  such  commit- 
tee and  other  investigating  committees,  with  full  power 
and  authority,  by  a  law  enacted  for  that  purpose. 

The  annual  reports  of  the  Treasurers  represented  the 
funds  of  the  State  as  safe  and  under  their  control. 
Nothing  was  said  explaining  their  real  condition,  or  show- 
ing how  large  a  portion  of  them  were  in  the  possession 
of  favorites  or  used  for  other  purposes.  The  Legisla- 
tures had  met,  made  appropriations,  and  adjourned,  as- 
suming those  reports  to  be  accurate,  and  to  represent  the 
true  condition  of  the  treasury.  While  the  Legislature 
and  the  public  were  acting  upon  the  statements  in  those 
reports  as  though  they  were  true,  one  Treasurer  went  out 
of  office  having  his  successor's  receipt  in  full  and  retain- 
ing in  his  hands  $302,115.86,  and  that  successor  went 
out  of  office  retaining  in  his  hands  $212,434.57.  The 
first  sum  was  all  paid  some  years  afterward,  and  a  por- 
tion of  the  last  sum  has  been  paid,  but  much  of  it  was 
lost.     In  a  conversation  between  Mr.   Kelley  and   Hon. 

191 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

Alfred  Yaple,  who  was  a  member  of  the  House  when 
these  proceedings  were  in  progress,  Mr.  Kelley  said,  as 
reported  by  Mr.  Yaple,  "  that  one  Treasurer  had  been 
the  weak,  accommodating  tool  of  the  designing  plunder- 
ers who  had  obtained  large  amounts  of  the  State's  money 
from  him,  and  could  not,  or  would  not,  pay  them  back ; " 
and  that  his  successor  "  had  foolishly  undertaken  to  con- 
ceal the  fact  for  him  in  the  vain  hope,  on  the  part  of 
both,"  that  the  money  would  be  repaid  by  those  who 
held  it.     Mr.  Kelley  then  added  : 

*'  I  am  going  to  prepare  a  bill  which  will  enable  the  people 
to  keep  their  own  money  until  it  is  actually  needed,  and  stop 
the  dangers  arising  from  public  officers  and  their  favorites 
speculating  on  the  half  of  it  for  six  months  every  year,  and 
endangering  its  loss ;  and  I  shall  devise  a  plan  by  which  the 
actual  condition  of  the  treasury  can  be  got  at." 

The  investigation  of  the  treasury  disclosed  the  fact 
that  most  of  the  money  was  needed  in  January  and 
July.  The  taxes  for  the  whole  year  were  then  paid  in 
December.  One-half  of  the  amount  was  therefore  idle 
for  six  months. 

In  order  to  diminish  the  temptation  to  use  the  money 
thus  lying  idle  in  the  treasury,  and  also  to  give  the  tax- 
payers the  use  of  it  when  it  was  not  needed  by  the  State, 
Mr.  Kelley  prepared  a  bill  authorizing  the  semi-annual 
payment  of  all  taxes.  The  bill  passed  the  Senate,  but 
was  defeated  in  the  House,  for  some  reason  which  is  un- 
accountable, unless  the  following  statement,  copied  from 
the  Columbus  Sunday  Capital,  may  be  said  to  solve  the 

enigma : 

192 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

"  There  were  court-house  rings  in  those  days  as  well  as 
now.  These,  together  with  the  bankers  from  all  over  the 
State  who  were  using  the  State  and  county  money,  fought  the 
measure,  just  and  reasonable  as  it  was." 

While  examining  the  treasury,  Mr.  Kelley  prepared 
a  bill  which  became  a  law  in  April,  1856,  which  provides 
that  all  money  paid  into  or  out  of  the  treasury  shall 
only  be  so  paid  on  the  order  of  the  Auditor,  and  every 
payment  into  the  treasury  shall  be  receipted  for  by  the 
Treasurer,  and  the  person  so' paying  shall  deposit  the  re- 
ceipt with  the  Auditor,  which  receipt  shall  be  the  sole 
evidence  of  such  payment. 

A  corresponding  provision  is  made  with  reference  to 
payments  into  the  treasury  made  elsewhere  ^'  than  at 
the  treasury  office  in  Columbus." 

The  details  are  so  drawn  that  no  money  can  pass  into 
or  out  of  the  Treasury  without  the  action  of  the  Auditor, 
and  the  Auditor's  books  must  always  show  the  exact 
condition  of  the  funds  of  the  State ;  and  they  can  not 
be  misapplied  or  improperly  used  without  a  fraudulent 
agreement  between  the  Auditor  and  Treasurer,  and  the 
person  paying  or  receiving  money.  It  provides  that  no 
money  shall  be  paid  out  unless  the  same  has  been  ap- 
propriated by  law  to  the  purpose  for  which  it  is  paid. 
Examinations  of  drafts  and  warrants  are  required  to  be 
made  four  times  during  the  year ;  and  a  general  exam- 
ination is  required  by  the  Auditor  and  a  person  ap- 
pointed by  the  Governor  once  each  year. 

It  also  provided  that  no  money  belonging  to  the  State 
13  193 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work, 

should  be  placed,  deposited,  or  kept  by  the  Treasurer  or 
by  his  direction  elsewhere  than  in  the  treasury  at  Colum- 
bus, without  taking,  in  every  instance,  a  bond  secured  by 
United  States  or  Ohio  stocks,  or  by  individual  residents 
as  collateral  security  to  the  Treasurer's  bond,  nor  until 
the  terms  of  the  deposit,  the  terms  and  conditions  of 
the  bond,  and  the  securities  or  names  of  the  sureties, 
should  have  been  approved  by  the  Auditor  and  Attorney- 
General,  depositing  the  same  with  the  Auditor  of  State. 

During  the  recess  between  the  sessions  of  1856-1857 
the  joint  committee  appointed  to  examine  the  treasury 
made  a  thorough  investigation  and  an  elaborate  report, 
in  which  every  statement  made  in  that  of  Mr.  Kelley  was 
confirmed  by  conclusive  testimony,  and  showing  that  the 
money  of  the  State  had  been  used,  during  several  pre- 
ceding years,  for  illegitimate  purposes,  by  which  all  the 
funds  of  the  State  were  endangered  and  a  large  amount 
was  lost. 

Mr.  Kelley  then  supplemented  the  laws  of  1856  by  pro- 
curing the  enactment  in  1857  of  another  which  requires 
the  Treasurer  to  collect  immediately  all  moneys  belong- 
ing to  the  State  in  the  hands  of  any  other  person,  com- 
pany, or  depositary,  except  such  as  are  deposited  in 
strict  conformity  with  the  provisions  of  the  act  of  1856. 
It  makes  it  the  duty  of  the  Governor  every  three  months 
to  appoint  a  suitable  person,  who,  in  conjunction  with 
the  Auditor  or  some  competent  clerk  in  his  office,  shall 
examine  the  books,  accounts,  and  vouchers  of  the  Treas- 
urer's and  Auditor's  office,  and  if  the  amount  in  posses- 

194 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

sion  of  the  Treasurer  is  less  than  the  amount  with  which 
he  stands  charged  in  the  Auditor's  office,  he  shall  be  as- 
sumed to  be  a  defaulter,  and  prosecuted  as  such.  The 
main  provisions  of  these  statutes  have  been  retained  to 
this  time,  and  have  been  very  instrumental  in  protecting 
the  public  against  the  loss  or  improper  use  of  its  money. 
The  session  of  1857  was  the  first  held  in  the  present 
State  House.  In  commemoration  of  the  event  there 
was,  on  the  6th  of  January,  a  formal  celebration  of  its 
occupancy.  The  citizens  of  Columbus  acted  in  the  ca- 
pacity of  host,  and  the  Legislature,  public  officers,  and 
citizens  of  the  State  generally  were  invited  as  guests. 
A  very  large  number  assembled  and  participated  in  the 
proceedings.  Mr.  Kelley  was  selected  to  deliver  the  ad- 
dress of  welcome,  and  at  the  appointed  time  in  the 
evening  spoke  as  follows  to  as  many  as  could  get  within 
the  reach  of  his  voice : 

^'Fellow  citizens  of  Ohio: — I  am  commissioned  by  my  neigh- 
bors of  Franklin  County  and  the  city  of  Columbus  to  tender 
you  a  hearty  welcome  to  the  capital  city,  and  especially  to  the 
building  in  which  we  are  assembled.  In  this  splendid  build- 
ing they  claim,  on  account  of  its  location  among  them,  no  pe- 
culiar rights  or  privileges.  It  belongs  to  the  citizens  of  Ohio 
in  common.  It  was  created  in  accordance  with  their  will, 
with  their  money,  and  for  their  use. 

"  But  w^e  of  Columbus,  because  it  is  in  our  midst,  because 
we  are  at  home,  have  assumed  to  do  the  honors  of  the  day,  to 
invite  you  to  come  among  us,  to  join  us  in  dedicating  the 
people's  house  to  the  people's  use ;  and  in  rejoicing  that  it  is  so 
far  finished  as  to  admit  at  least  of  its  partial  occupation  for 

195 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

the  purposes  intended.     We  trust  that  for  thus  assuming  we 
shall  be  forgiven. 

*'It  is  said  of  Athens,  that  glorious  little  republic  of  an- 
tiquity— little  in  extent  of  territory,  small  in  population,  but 
teeming  with  men  of  genius  scarcely  short  of  inspiration, 
whose  thoughts,  words,  and  works,  seldom  equaled,  never  sur- 
passed, have  made  an  impression  never  to  be  effaced,  and  ex- 
ercised a  controlling  influence  over  civilized  man  in  all  enlight- 
ened nations  from  their  time  to  ours,  and  will  continue  to  do 
so  to  the  end  of  time — that  while  her  public  buildings  exhib- 
ited the  perfection  of  grandeur  and  symmetrical  beauty,  her 
citizens  occupied  dwellings  of  the  most  unpretending  charac- 
ter. Now,  though  I  am  too  much  a  lover  of  architectural 
beauty  to  condemn  it  even  in  private  residences,  I  can  not  but 
admire  that  devotional  feeling  which  impels  men  to  dedicate 
to  God,  and  that  patriotism  which  leads  men  to  dedicate  to 
their  country,  the  most  costly  and  magnificent  specimens  of 
architecture. 

"The  building  in  which  we  are  now  assembled  combines 
that  sublime  massiveness,  that  dignity  of  form  and  feature, 
that  beautiful  symmetry  of  proportions,  which  together  con- 
stitute true  architectural  excellence  in  a  high  degree.  True, 
it  may  have  its  imperfections;  what  work  of  man  has  not? 
Still,  it  is  worthy  of  the  great  and  patriotic  people  by  whom 
and  for  whom  it  was  erected. 

*'It  is  emblematic  of  the  moral  grandeur  of  the  State 
whose  councils  are  here  to  be  assembled,  whose  archives  are 
here  to  be  kept,  and  I  trust  safely,  so  long  as  Ohio  shall  be  a 
State,  or  time  itself  endure.  May  those  councils  be  so  wise 
that  their  beneficent  influence  will  be  as  enduring  as  these 
walls. 

"Citizens  of  Ohio,  members  of  the  General  Assembly,  we 
congratulate  you.  Let  us  congratulate  each  other,  that  this 
noble  structure  approaches  completion. 

"Again,  on  behalf  of  the  citizens  of  this  city,  and  of  this 
county,  I  bid  you  a  cordial  welcome." 

196 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

Governor  Chase  responded  on  behalf  of  the  citizens, 
and  after  examining  the  legislative  halls  and  other  de- 
partments of  the  building,  and  partaking  of  a  bountiful 
supper,  they  all  retired  at  a  late  hour,  much  gratified 
both  with  the  building  and  the  reception. 

The  sessions  of  1856  and  1857  closed  Mr.  Kelley's 
legislative  labors  and  his  public  life.  When  he  became  a 
member  for  the  first  time,  in  1814,  he  was  the  youngest 
man  in  either  branch,  and  in  1857  he  was  the  oldest. 

During  a  portion  of  the  last  two  sessions,  he  was  con- 
fined to  his  house  by  acute  disease,  and  much  of  his 
legislative  work  was  performed  when  most  men  would 
have  yielded  to  their  physical  infirmities  and  remained 
at  home.  As  was  his  custom  and  nature,  he  did  not 
spare  himself  when  discharging  a  public  trust  or  duty. 
What  had  been  especially  under  his  charge  had  been  ac- 
complished, except  the  passage  of  the  bill  providing  for 
the  semi-annual  payment  of  taxes.  This  had  passed  the 
Senate  and  was  pending  in  the  House.  Its  disposition 
in  that  body,  and  Mr.  Kelley's  comments,  are  referred  to 
by  Mr.  Yaple  as  follows : 

"  It  has  already  been  stated  that  Kelley  tried,  in  every  way, 
to  get  the  Legislature  to  adopt  his  plan  for  the  semi-annual 
collection  of  taxes — finally  tacking  it  on  the  general  appropri- 
ation bill,  but  that  he  failed  because  the  House  voted  it  down. 
When  that  vote  was  taken,  the  end  of  the  session  and  the 
time  for  adjournment  was  at  hand.  It  was  after  midnight — 
a  night  dark,  blustering,  and  stormy ;  snow  and  rain  com- 
mingled and  falling  thick  and  fast.  Kelley  listened  with 
stern  anxiety  to  the  roll  call  and  the  responses  of  the  members. 
The  "no,"  as  uttered  by  many,  was  not  only  emphatic,  but 

197 


Alfred  Kelley;  Mb  Life  and  Work, 

delivered  in  a  tone  and  manner  as  if  intended  for  him  to  hear 
and  see  that  he  was  aimed  at,  and  indicated  intentional  insult 
to  him.  The  result  was  announced,  the  measure  declared 
lost,  and  Kelley  buttoned  his  coat  up  to  his  throat,  drew 
tightly  around  his  neck  his  fur  collar,  adjusted  his  head 
squarely  and  firmly  upon  his  shoulders,  and  started  for  the 
door.  Feeling  mortified  at  the  disrespect  shown  him,  I 
sought  his  side  and  expressed  my  regret  for  what  had  tran- 
spired. '  Oh,'  said  he,  '  I  am  used  to  it.  It  don't  trouble 
me.  These  are  honest,  well-meaning  men  enough  ;  but  I  do 
wonder  how  many  of  them  were  able  to  find  tiieir  way 
from  home  to  Columbus.  I  hope  they  will  find  their  way 
back  in  safety,  and  turn  their  attention  to  something  they 
know  more  about  than  legislation.'  .  .  .  And  then  with 
a  manner  that  spoke  his  assurance  of  the  adoption  of  the  law 
for  the  semi-annual  collection  of  taxes  at  no  distant  day,  in 
spite  of  the  action  of  that  Legislature,  the  old  man  disappeared 
in  the  darkness  of  the  street  in  that  midnight  storm,  his  liv- 
ing voice  to  be  heard  no  more  forever  in  the  councils  of  the 
State." 

That  bill  became  a  law  on  the  2d  of  April,  1859. 

In  the  following  letter  Mr.  Yaple  gives  a  clear  and 
satisfactory  statement  of  Mr.  Kelley^s  position  upon  our 
common  school  system.  Although  the  letter  was  not 
written  for  publication,  its  introduction  here  is  au- 
thorized : 

Cincinnati,  March  9,  1886. 
Hon.  Jas.  L.  Bates. 

Dear  Sir: — Yesterday  I  sent  you  a  copy  of  my  essay  be- 
fore our  Literary  Club  on  Alfred  Kelley,  read  in  1875. 

Time  did  not  admit  of  my  saying  any  thing  about  Mr. 
Kelley's  position  upon,  and  efforts  in  behalf  of,  our  common 
school  system.  In  a  biography  this  should  be  appropriately 
treated. 

As  late  as  1856-7,  when  I  was  in  the  Legislature,  some 
of  the  wealthy  counties,  some  of  my  constituents  from  Ross, 
especially,  wished  to  have  the  amount  of  the  school  taxes 

.  198 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

raised  in  each  county  applied  to  the  schools  in  such  county.  I 
spoke  with  Mr.  Kelley  about  the  matter.  He  said,  in  sub- 
stance, that  the  Constitution  of  the  State  enjoined  upon  the 
General  Assembly  the  passage  of  suitable  laws  to  encourage 
schools  and  the  means  of  instruction  ;  that  to  do  so  properly 
he  had  always  maintained  that  every  child  in  the  State  had 
an  equal  right  to  the  benefit* of  this  provision  ;  and  its  equal 
share  of  the  public  money  raised  by  the  State  for  common 
school  educational  purposes  should  be  appropriated  for  it; 
that  the  rich  could  educate  their  children,  and  only  the 
poor  stood  in  need  of  State  aid,  and  that  by  apportioning  to 
every  child  in  the  State  its  equal  share  of  money,  the  poorer 
class  would  receive  a  benefit  of  which,  by  any  other  method, 
they  would  be  deprived,  and  the  system  fail  in  accomplish- 
ing the  end  for  which  it  was  created.  He  said  great  diffi- 
culty was  encountered  in  securing  school  moneys  from  the 
localities  (counties)  where  raised,  and  in  applying  them 
equally,  according  to  the  number  of  school  children,  in  every 
school  district  in  the  State.  Local  interests  were  against  it, 
and  the  prejudice  always  existing  against  change.  Change 
did  not  always  signify  reform  or  improvement,  but  any  great 
beneficial  change  had  always  met  and  always  will  meet  de- 
termined oppposition,  as  it  breaks  up  the  settled  habit,  and 
inspires  fears  of  imagined  calamities ;  the  obviously  necessary 
and  most  beneficial  changes  always  meeting  with  the  strongest 
resistance,  while  a  mere  "  tinkering"  measure  of  no  real  bene- 
fit gets  through  smoothly.  My  judgment  according  with  his 
views,  I  declined  to  introduce  any  bill,  or  advocate  any  meas- 
ure, looking  to  the  expenditure  within  each  county  of  school 
moneys  raised  by  it  by  taxation. 

I  hope  a  complete  biography  of  Mr.  Kelley  will  be  pub- 
lished. Had  he  lived  in,  and  done  for,  any  New  England 
State,  what  he  did  for  Ohio,  his  published  life  would  long  ago 
have  been  for  sale  in  every  book  store,  and  on  every  book 
^tand  in  the  Union  and  England. 

Yours  truly,  Alfred  Yaple. 

199 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

After  these  sessions  Mr.  Kelley  had  a  short  rest,  but 
neither  health  nor  strength.  The  recent  strain  upon  him 
was  more  than  he  could  bear.  He  had  previously  with- 
drawn from  the  responsible  business  relations  which 
had  occupied  a  large  portion  of  his  time,  and  although 
he  was  able  to  enjoy  the  society  of  his  family  and 
friends,  which  was  always  grateful  to  him,  his  constitu- 
tion was  too  much  broken  to  admit  of  even  a  partial 
restoration  to  health.  Slow  paralysis  soon  commenced 
its  work,  and  was  beyoind  the  reach  of  medical  skill.  He 
was  aware  of  its  commencement  and  progress,  but  his 
cheerfulness  did  not  forsake  him,  and  patience,  charity, 
and  good  will  characterized  his  feelings  and  intercourse 
until  his  death  on  the  second  day  of  December,  A.  d. 
1859,  at  the  age  of  seventy. 

200 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 


CHAPTER   XYIII. 

PERSONAL    TRAITS. 

Mr.  Kelley's  probity. — Originating  talent. — Good  judgment. — 
Executive  ability. — Generous  instincts. — Literary  tastes — Love 
of  poetry. — Scientific  knowledge. — Familiarity  with  geography. — 
Hospitality. — Mr.  Yaple's  reminiscences. — Business  habjts. — Do- 
mestic traits. — Recollections  of  Mathias  Martin  and  Judge 
Swan. — "Alfred  Kelley's  place  in  history." — Henry  Clay's  esti- 
mate.— The  last  visit  of  his  life. — "Just  like  him." 


The  preceding  narrative  necessarily  implies  in  its 
subject  an  extraordinary  degree  of  integrity,  an  unselfish- 
ness rarely  equaled,  a  more  scrupulous  attention  to  pub- 
lic and  private  trusts  than  to  personal  interests,  and  an 
entire  subjection  of  all  private  gain  to  the  public  wel- 
fare. 

Mr.  Kelley  had  the  originating  talent  which  is  so  rare 
among  men.  His  life  exhibits  a  series  of  efforts  to  de- 
velop the  State,  to  advance  the  education  and  morals  of 
its  people,  and  to  secure  its  property  against  loss  by 
public  or  private  fraud  or  unfaithfulness.  Coupled  with 
it,  he  also  possessed  good  judgment,  which  is  exhibited 
in  the  success  of  all  his  projects.  To  this  was  added 
also  executive  and  constructive  talent.  These  four  qual- 
ities are  rarely  combined,  and  the  history  of  this  country 
furnishes  very  few  instances  of  men  who  have  possessed 
them  in  an  eminent  degree.     It  is  easy  to  find  fault  and 

201 


Alfred  Kelley;  his  lAfe  and  Work. 

discuss  subjects,  but  it  requires  a  higher  order  of  talent 
to  develop  the  resources  of  a  State,  or  save  it  from  the 
ruin  of  bad  management.  It  is  not  difficult  to  acquire  a 
fortune,  if  it  is  made  the  sole  object  of  life,  but  it  is 
necessary  to  rise  to  a  higher  plane  before  much  can  be 
accomplished  for  the  good  of  others.  As  a  consequence, 
when  any  important  object  was  to  be  accomplished  for 
the  State,  or  any  evil  remedied  or  provided  against,  at- 
tention was  immediately  turned  to  Mr.  Kelley  as  the 
most  eminently  qualified  to  perform  the  service. 

Though  stern  in  the  discharge  of  public  duties  and  as 
trustee  for  others,  he  was  the  reverse  in  the  transaction 
of  his  private  business.  In  his  private  business  he  was 
liberal  and  generous,  almost  to  a  fault.  He  had  little 
regard,  for  property,  and  at  no  period  in  his  life  did  he 
strive,  or  make  it  a  primary  object,  to  accumulate  it. 

It  was  said  of  him  by  an  intimate  friend  that  "  there 
was  not  a  particle  of  envy,  avarice,  or  malignity  in  his 
composition."  This  is  not  an  exaggeration.  He  was 
always  open  and  frank  in  his  business  and  intercourse. 
He  had  no  concealments  and  little  curiosity. 

Although  so  eminently  qualified  for,  and  so  constantly 
employed  in,  the  discharge  of  public  duties  and  trusts, 
his  literary  and  scientific  attainments  were  above  those 
of  the  average  of  educated  men.  He  was  fond  of  poetry, 
and  was  familiar  with  all  the  standard  poetical  works. 
He  read  much,  but  less  than  many  educated  men.  He 
took  little  pleasure  in  works  which  did  not  furnish  him 
food  for  thought,  and  entertained   the  opinion  that  the 

202 


Alfred  Kelley;  his  Life  and  Work. 

modern  tendency  is  to  read  too  much  and  think  too 
little.  In  the  winter  of  1847,  he  delivered  some  lectures 
before  the  Columbus  Mechanics'  Institute  on  the  subjects 
of  light  and  heat,  in  which,  among  other  things,  he 
claimed  and  demonstrated  that  light,  heat,  electricity, 
and  magnetism  are  diflferent  exhibitions  of  the  same 
agent. 

His  topographical  knowledge  was  extraordinary.  The 
rivers  and  mountains,  the  water  sheds,  the  plains  and 
deserts  and  atmospherical  currents  of  the  globe,  were 
familiar  to  him,  and  a  gratifying  source  of  study.  Once, 
when  he  was  riding  from  London  to  Edinburgh  in  a  stage 
coach  with  a  number  of  Englishmen,  the  latter  were  dis- 
cussing the  name  of  a  stream  they  had  just  crossed,  and 
were  much  surprised  to  be  informed  by  an  American  of  its 
name,  and  also  to  what  river  it  was  a  tributary.  Many 
years  before  a  canal  or  a  railway  was  projected  between 
St.  Petersburgh  and  Moscow,  he  pointed  out  on  a  map, 
to  a  member  of  his  family,  the  route  for  either — where 
the  summit  of  a  canal  would  be  and  how  it  could  be  sup- 
plied with  water.  A  railway  has  since  been  built  sub- 
stantially on  that  line.  He  had  also  an  unusual  fondness 
for  nature ;  always  preferring  the  country,  and  the  works 
of  God,  to  the  works  of  man.  His  feelings  were  often 
moved  by  the  grand  and  beautiful  in  natural  scenery. 

His  hospitality  was  such  that  he  kept  what  is  called 
an  "  open  house  "  from  the  time  of  his  marriage  to  his 
last  sickness.     Company  at  meals  was  a  common,  and  at 

203 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

some  periods,  a  daily  occurrence.     At  his  table  the  con- 
versation was  uniformly  interesting  and  instructive. 

Some  of  his  peculiarties  are  well  presented  by  Mr. 
Yaple,  in  his  "  Reminiscences."  Though  a  political  op- 
ponent, he  was  partial  to  Mr.  Kelley,  and  studied  his 
character.     He  says : 

"But  I  feel  that  the  limits  of  an  essay  will  not  admit  of 
doing  any  kind  of  justice  to  the  public  life  and  acts  of  Alfred 
Kelley.  When  an  extended  history  of  Ohio  shall  be  written, 
he  will  fill  many  and  its  most  important  pages.  I  can  do  no 
more  than  give  a  few  examples  from  my  own  observation,  il- 
lustrating the  character  of  the  man.  In  stature,  Mr.  Kelley 
was  between  five  feet  ten  and  eleven  inches ;  he  was  com- 
pactly built,  neither  broad  nor  slender ;  his  head  was  set 
firmly,  his  appearance  being  that  of  a  man  carved  out  of  a 
block  of  marble.  He  neither  affected  popular  manners  nor 
sought  popularity.  He  possessed,  emphatically,  the  fortiter  in 
re,  with  but  little  or  none  of  the  suaviter  in  modo.  His  mind 
worked  with  the  accuracy  of  the  geometric  lathe,  and  his  ac- 
tion and  conduct  adhered  strictly  to  the  line  of  his  ideas. 
This  made  him  unpopular  with  all  \vho  sought,  from  personal 
interest  or  supposed  better  informati(m,  lo  induce  him  to  de- 
part from  or  vary  plans  or  purposes  he  had  formed.  To  such 
he  listened  with  impatience,  and  showed  them  but  little  re- 
spect, but  adhered  firmly  to  his  purpose  and  moved  straight 
toward  the  object  he  had  in  view.  This  enabled  him  to  con- 
struct the  canals  within  the  time  and  for  the  sums  estimated. 
He  would  not  vary  the  proper  line  of  the  work  to  accommo- 
date any  local  interests,  and  this  caused  many  people  to  feel 
hardly  toward  him;  but,  feeling  that  he  was  right,  he  was 
heedless  of  their  clamor  and  opposition.  One  would  hardly 
expect  to  find  a  poetical  nature  in  such  a  man ;  yet  I  was  as- 
tonished to  find  how  intimate  he  was  with  Shakespeare  and 
Milton.  He  seemed  to  me  to  have  memorized  the  principal 
parts  of  the  works  of  both. 

"  Shortly  after  I  entered  the  Legislature,  and  had  become 
acquainted  with  him,  he  gave  me  some  directions  as  to  the 
proper  course  to  pursue,  which,  I  think,  could  be  followed 
with  advantage  to  the  country  and  themselves  by  congress- 


men and  legislators.     Said  he 


204 


Alfred  Kelley ;  Ms  Life  and  Work. 

*'  1.  If  a  matter  be  under  consideration  about  which  you 
are  indifferent,  say  nothing,  and,  as  a  rule,  vote  '  No.'  A 
negative  vote  will  always  be  less  to  your  injury,  and  give  you 
less  trouble  than  an  affirmative  one. 

"2.  If  it  be,  in  your  judgment,  wrong,  always  oppose  it 
squarely  and  determinedly. 

"3.  If  you  favor  the  general  object  of  the  bill,  but  think 
the  provisions  and  details  of  it  are  inadequate,  or  not  prac- 
tical, begin  by  presenting  a  better,  or  you  will  be  regarded  as 
a  mere  captious  objector,  or,  at  best,  a  critic  more  or  less 
respectable,  but  will  tacitly  confess  yourself  incapable  of 
doing  what  you  admit  ought  to  be  done ;  and  you  will  expose 
yourself  to  the  danger  of  being  thought  a  secret  enemy  of 
the  measure  but  too  cowardly  and  insincere  to  openly  avow 
your  hostility. 

"  4.  Before  preparing  or  introducing  a  bill,  carefully  ex- 
amine all  the  legislation  affecting  the  subject  in  any  manner, 
and  consider  what  the  common  law  would  be  in  the  absence 
of  all  legislation.  Should  your  bill  pass,  after  you  have 
framed  its  provisions  with  such  knowledge,  it  will  have  the 
merit,  at  least,  of  not  confusing  the  law  and  thus  breeding 
litigation. 

''  He  then  said  that  he  could  not  recall  any  instance  in 
which  any  statute  framed  by  him  had  ever  had  a  disputed 
construction  by  any  department  of  the  government  or  in  any 
court. 

"  Were  these  rules  observed  by  those  who  introduce  bills  in 
the  Legislature,  there  would  be  far  fewer  of  them  ;  they 
would  be  less  voluminous;  and  our  laws  would  be  much  wiser 
and  freer  from  confusion  and  uncertainty. 

*' He  despised  cant  and  hypocrisy. 

"His  love  of  order  was  almost  extreme. 

"  His  love  of  punctuality,  in  keeping  hours  set  for  meetings 
appointed  for  any  purpose,  was  carried  into  social  life.  Where 
parties  were  given  upon  the  announcement  that  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
So  and  So  would  be  at  home  on  a  given  night,  at  such  an  hour, 
he  disapproved  decidedly  of  the  invited  not  appearing  before 
lOJ,  11,  11  J,  or  12  o'clock,  regarding  it  as  a  mere  sham-seem- 
ing by  such  persons  that  they  were  so  independent  in  their 
circumstances  that  time  was  of  no  consequence;  that  they 
could  afford  to  run  all  night  and  sleep  all  day.  This  want  of 
regard  for  hours  designated  for  the  assembling  of  parties  had 
become  the  fashion  in  Columbus.     He  gave  a  party,  and  an- 

205 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

nounced,  upon  the  cards  of  invitation,  that  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Kelley,  on  the  evening  designated,  would  be  at  home  from  8 
until  12  o'clock,  letting  the  late  party-goers  know  that  their 
usual  hour  for  attending  was  the  time  fixed  by  him  for  their 
leave-taking." 

Mr.  Kelley's  local  and  personal  attachments  were  un- 
usually strong,  and  his  affection  for  his  family  was  in- 
tense. And,  notwithstanding  all  the  unjustifiable  and 
unreasonable  abuse  which  was  often  heaped  upon  him, 
he  never  harbored  or  permitted  himself  to  cherish  enmity 
or  ill-will.  Some  of  those  who  published  the  most  atro- 
cious attacks  upon  him  lived  to  praise  him  for  his  serv- 
ices on  behalf  of  the  State.  One  of  the  leading  news- 
paper writers  and  one  of  his  bitter  defamers,  on  more 
than  one  occasion  within  the  past  year  or  two,  said  to 
the  writer  that  Mr.  Kelley's  biography  should  be  writ- 
ten, as  he  had  done  more  for  the  development  and  finan- 
cial and  commercial  prosperity  of  Ohio  than  any  other 
of  its  citizens. 

In  an  article  published  more  than  twenty-five  years 
after  Mr.  Kelley's  death,  in  the  Columbus  Sunday  Cap- 
ital, a  paper  politically  opposed  to  him,  and  much  of 
which  article  was  dictated  by  a  strong  partisan  and  po- 
litical adversary,  Mr.  Mathias  Martin,  are  the  following 
statements,  Avhich  fairly  illustrate  how  his  character  and 
services  are  now  estimated : 

**I  remember  Alfred  Kelley  very  well,"  said  Matt.  Martin. 
*'  He  was  a  man  of  force  and  intellect;  in  person  he 
was  dignified  and  commanding,  sedate  iu  his  manners,  and 
gentlemanly.     .     .     . 

"Although  I  was  Mr.  Kelley's  political  antagonist,  and 

206 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

fought  him  durlDg  every  campaign,  I  always  regarded  him  as 
the  soul  of  honor  in  every  trust  held  by  him,  and  no  one 
could  charge  that  he  appropriated  a  cent  of  public  moneys  to 
his  own  uses. 

"At  the  head  of  Sixth  Street,  on  Broad,  stands  a  roomy 
and  stately  structure,  the  builder  of  which  })assed  away  over 
a  quarter  of  a  century  ago.  The  architecture  is  of  a  severe 
Grecian  type,  and  reminds  one  of  Monticello  or  Mt.  Vernon. 
Being  in  a  large  park,  it  is  often  mistaken  for  a  Governor's  man- 
sion, or  one  of  the  public  institutions.  The  owner  and  builder 
of  this  structure  was  Alfred  Kelley,  one  of  the  marked  men 
of  the  State,  and  one  who  has  left  an  indelible  impress  on  our 
finances,  credit,  the  means  of  transportation,  and  the  internal 
improvements  of  the  State. 

"The  American  Encyclopedia  contains  some  twenty  or  thirty 
lines  concerning  the  life  and  services  of  Mr.  Kelley,  which  is 
nearly  all  the  printed  information  at  hand  concerning  a  citi- 
zen who,  in  his  lime,  has  had  more  influence  on  the  financial 
and  business  legislation  of  the  State  than  any  one  in  it,  and 
one  to  whose  energy  Columbus  and  the  State  owes  the  con- 
struction, and  working  of  its  system  of  land  and  water  trans- 
portation [sic].     .     .     . 

"The  Capital  has  collected  from  among  the  few  early  con- 
temporaries of  Mr.  Kelley  who  still  remain  on  the  field  of 
action,  some  pertinent  facts  which  in.  the  light  of  events  that 
have  transpired  since  his  death,  are  doubly  interesting,  for  they 
prove  his  wise  judgment  and  foresight.  The  facts  gathered  at 
the  outset  impress  one  that  a  man's  acts  do  not  live  but  for 
the  moment,  but  the  effects  of  them,  whether  for  good  or  bad, 
continue  long  years  after  the  actors  have  passed  away  and  are 
forgotten. 

"It  was  a  comparatively  small  matter  at  the  start,  or 
seemed  to  be,  when  Ohio  abandoned  imprisonment  for  debt, 
or  when  the  Stale  credit  was  saved  untarnished,  or  her  system 
of  taxation  and  finance  completely  reformed,  or  her  great 
public  works  honestly  built,  yet  how^  beneficial  have  these 
measures  been.  How,  like  the  free  air  and  sunshine,  do  all 
enjoy  them,  and  it  is  the  leader  and  prime  mover  in  these 
works — Mr.  Kelley — whose  career,  or  the  salient  points  in  it, 
we  propose  to  summarize. 

"At  the  outset  of  Mr.  Kelley's  career,  Ohio  was  a  rude, 
frontier  State  with  but  few  means  of  communication,  little 
wealth,  and  crude  systems  of  laws  and  taxation  ;  at  his  death 

207 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

it  was  firmly  established  as  the  third  State  in  the  Union, 
prosperous  and  flourishing ;  and  in  bringing  about  these 
changes  aud  paving  the  way  for  them,  Mr.  Kelley  showed  a 
master  mind. 

"  Mr.  Kelley  led  in  advocating  the  laws  for  building  the 
canals,  and  after  they  were  passed  was  made  the  acting  com- 
missioner. The  people  of  the  State  told  him  in  effect  that  as 
he  had  claimed  the  canals  could  be  constructed  for  so  many 
millions,  that  '  there  was  the  money,  go  and  build  them.' 

'•He  did  build  them  for  the  amount  claimed,  and  it  was 
only  his  unswerving  integrity  that  enabled  him  to  do  so,  and 
save  the  credit  of  the  State. 


The  same  article  under  the  title  of  "  reminiscences," 
repeats  what  had  been  said  by  Judge  Joseph  R.  Swan  a 
few  days  before. 

"  I  do  not  remember  what  Mr.  Kelley  paid  for  his  East 
Broad  street  place,  said  Judge  Swan  the  other  morning,  but 
suppose  it  was  about  $30  an  acre.  You  can  have  some  idea 
of  what  sort  of  a  piece  it  was  when  I  tell  you  that  Broad,  in 
front  of  where  the  Cathedral  now  stands,  was  laid  with  cor- 
duroy.    .     .     . 

"  For  several  years  before  Mr.  Kelley  built  the  residence 
in  which  he  died,  I  am  convinced  that  his  entire  family  ex- 
penses did  not  exceed  $700  or  $800  a  year,  all  told.  He 
lived  very  economically.  His  wife,  too,  whom  I  well  re- 
member as  she  appeared  in  those  days,  was  a  most  noble 
woman.  Things  were  different  in  those  homespun  times,  said 
the  judge,  reflectively.  I  think  that  the  key  to  Mr.  Kelley's 
great  success  was  his  integrity.  You  younger  generation 
have  scarcely  any  idea  of  its  importance  and  far  reaching 
effects  in  a  man's  character,  and  more  especially  if  he  is  a 
public  man.     .     .     . 

"He  was  rigid  with  the  contractors  on  the  canals  aud  rail- 
ways, and  you  may  be  sure  that  there  was  no  slip-shod  work 
or  nonsense  permitted.  He  had  rooms,  I  remember,  in  the 
old  Goodale  Hotel — in  that  part  where  Eberly's  store  now 
stands — from  which  he  used  to  start  out  in  a  morning  down 
the  line  of  the  canal,  armed  with  a  long  rod,  to  prod  into 
the  canal  banks  for  logs,  which  the  contractors  would  try  to 

208 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

run  in  as  so  much  earth- work.     He  was  a  regular  terror  to 
them." 

A  few  days  after  the  preceding  article  was  published, 
the  same  paper  contained  the  following : 

"ALFRED   KELLEY's  PLACE  IN   HISTORY. 

''A  recent  issue  of  the  Ross  County  Register  has  the  following: 

''The  last  Columbus  Sunday  Cajntal  has  a  long  article  in  re- 
gard to  Hon.  Alfred  Kelley,  an  old-time  citizen  of  that  place, 
showing  that  he  was  '  the  father  of  our  system  of  internal  im- 
provements;  the  author  of  the  law  abolishing  imprisonment 
for  debt  in  Ohio  ;  the  originator  of  our  system  of  taxation  ; ' 
that  he  suspected  and  tried  to  get  at  the  Bresliu  defalcation  a 
year  or  more  before  it  became  known  to  the  public ;  and, 
finally,  that  the  Ohio  State  Banking  System,  of  which  he  was 
the  author,  furnished  the  model  for  our  present  National 
Banking  System.  The  three  last  items  in  this  catalogue  of 
facts  were  brought  out  in  an  editorial  published  in  the  Register 
something  over  a  year  since,  previous  to  which  time  it  seemed 
to  have  escaped  the  observation  of  others  that  the  Ohio  State 
Banking  System,  which  was  superseded  by  our  present  Na- 
tional Banking  System,  really  furnished  the  model  for  the 
latter  system. 

"Under  the  Ohio  system.  State  bonds  deposited  with  the 
Treasurer  of  State  furnished  security  to  the  note-holders,  as 
Natiimal  bonds  deposited  in  the  United  States  treasury  now 
furnish  the  security  lor  the  redemption  of  National  bank-notes. 
Previous  to  the  adopticm  of  the  Kelley  plan,  the  holder  of  a 
bank-note  had  little,  if  any,  security  beyond  the  assets  the 
bank  might  happen  to  have  on  hand  at  the  time  of  suspen- 
sion ;  after  its  adoption,  the  note  of  a  broken  bank  became  as 
good  as  gold.  Previous  to  the  adoption  of  the  Kelley  plan 
of  taxation,  a  capitalist  might  reside  in  Ohio,  and  by  loaning 
his  money  to  people  residing  outside  of  the  State,  entirely  es- 
cape taxation. 

"Both  of  these  measures,  so  salutary  in  their  effects,  met 
with  the  united  opposition  of  the  Democratic  party,  and  Mr. 
Kelley  had  not  a  little  trouble  with  a  good  many  of  his  party 
associates  in  the  Lt^gislature,  who  chafed  under  his  leadership, 
to  gain  their  support.  But  as  a  practical  legislator  he  was 
head  and  shoulders  above  every  other  man  of  his  time  residing 

14  209 


Alfred  Kelley ;  his  Life  and  Work. 

witliin  the  State,  and  it  is  doubtful  whether  he  had  his  equal 
in  that  way  outside  of  it.     .     .     . 

"  But  with  all  his  ability,  Mr.  Kelley  was  not  popular  with 
his  party ;  and  as  to  his  politi.^al  enemies,  they  hated  him  with 
what  King  David  calls  '  a- bitter  hatred.'  But  the  State  owes 
him  a  debt  of  gratitude  for  his  great  services  in  her  behalf, 
and  would  honor  herself  by  erecting  to  his  memory  a  statue 
in  the  most  eligible  situation  in  the  State  House  grounds." 

A  remark  made  to  one  of  Mr.  Kelley's  daughters  by 
his  friend,  Henry  Clay,  may  with  propriety  be  added : 
"  Mr.  Kelley  had  too  much  cast-iron  in  his  composition 
to  be  popular." 

Shortly  after  his  death,  the  friend  who  received  the 
visit  referred  to  wrote  as  follows : 

"  With  a  benevolence  and  sympathy  only  felt  by  the  pure 
in  spirit,  the  last  visit  of  his  life  was  one  of  condolence  to  a 
friend  in  affliction,  and  with  and  for  him  he  probably  shed  his 
last  tear.  In  this  interview,  he  referred  to  a  presentiment 
that  he  should  not  live  to  witness  the  commencement  of 
another  year,  a  prevision  which  was  fatally  verified." 

Strange  as  it  may  seem,  after  such  a  life  of  activity, 
of  employment  and  antagonisms  so  varied,  when  his 
work  was  done,  his  integrity,  usefulness,  and  disinterest- 
edness were  fully  conceded  by  those  who  had  traduced 
him ;  and  at  the  close  of  his  life  no  one  commanded 
more  respect  and  admiration  from  all  classes  of  his 
fellow-citizens. 

A   tall,    well    proportioned,    and    massive    obelisk    of 

granite    marks   the    spot  where    his    body  lies ;    and   a 

laborer  who  knew  him  well,  after  examining  it,  said,  "  It 

is  just  like  him."  • 

210 


NOV  1 8  ly^^ 


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